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Mutations in Arabidopsis acyl‐CoA oxidase genes reveal distinct and overlapping roles in β‐oxidation
Plant Journal (2005)
  • A. Raquel Adham, Rice University
  • Bethany K. Zolman, Rice University
  • Arthur Millius, Rice University
  • Bonnie Bartel, Rice University
Abstract
Indole‐3‐butyric acid (IBA) is an endogenous auxin used to enhance rooting during propagation. To better understand the role of IBA, we isolated Arabidopsis IBA‐response (ibr ) mutants that display enhanced root elongation on inhibitory IBA concentrations but maintain wild‐type responses to indole‐3‐acetic acid, the principle active auxin. A subset of ibr mutants remains sensitive to the stimulatory effects of IBA on lateral root initiation. These mutants are not sucrose dependent during early seedling development, indicating that peroxisomal β‐oxidation of seed storage fatty acids is occurring. We used positional cloning to determine that one mutant is defective in ACX1 and two are defective in ACX3 , two of the six Arabidopsis fatty acyl‐CoA oxidase (ACX ) genes. Characterization of T‐DNA insertion mutants defective in the other ACX genes revealed reduced IBA responses in a third gene, ACX4 . Activity assays demonstrated that mutants defective in ACX1 ACX3 , or ACX4 have reduced fatty acyl‐CoA oxidase activity on specific substrates. Moreover, acx1 acx2 double mutants display enhanced IBA resistance and are sucrose dependent during seedling development, whereas acx1 acx3 and acx1 acx5 double mutants display enhanced IBA resistance but remain sucrose independent. The inability of ACX1, ACX3, and ACX4 to fully compensate for one another in IBA‐mediated root elongation inhibition and the ability of ACX2 and ACX5 to contribute to IBA response suggests that IBA‐response defects in acx mutants may reflect indirect blocks in peroxisomal metabolism and IBA β‐oxidation, rather than direct enzymatic activity of ACX isozymes on IBA‐CoA.
Keywords
  • acyl-CoA oxidase,
  • fatty acid catabolism,
  • indole-3-butyric acid,
  • peroxisome
Disciplines
Publication Date
January 26, 2005
DOI
10.1111/j.1365-313X.2005.02343.x
Citation Information
A. Raquel Adham, Bethany K. Zolman, Arthur Millius and Bonnie Bartel. "Mutations in Arabidopsis acyl‐CoA oxidase genes reveal distinct and overlapping roles in β‐oxidation" Plant Journal Vol. 41 Iss. 6 (2005) p. 859 - 874
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/bethany-zolman/7/