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Plant Physiol. (1998) 118: 557-564
Evidence That Auxin-Induced Growth of Tobacco Leaf Tissues Does
Not Involve Cell Wall Acidification1
Christopher P. Keller2, * and
Elizabeth Van Volkenburgh
Department of Botany, University of Washington, Box 351330, Seattle, Washington 98195
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ABSTRACT |
Interveinal
strips (10 × 1.5 mm) excised from growing tobacco
(Nicotiana tabacum L. cv Xanthi) leaves have an
auxin-specific, epinastic growth response that is developmentally
regulated and is not the result of ethylene induction (C.P. Keller, E. Van Volkenburgh [1997] Plant Physiol 113: 603-610). We report here
that auxin (10 µM naphthalene acetic acid) treatment of
strips does not result in plasma membrane hyperpolarization or
detectable proton efflux. This result is in contrast to the expected
responses elicited by 1 µM fusicoccin (FC) treatment,
which in other systems mimics auxin growth promotion through
stimulation of the plasma membrane H+-ATPase and resultant
acid wall loosening; FC produced both hyperpolarization and proton
efflux in leaf strips. FC-induced growth was much more inhibited by a
strong neutral buffer than was auxin-induced growth. Measurements of
the osmotic concentration of strips suggested that osmotic adjustment
plays no role in the auxin-induced growth response. Although cell wall
loosening of some form appears to be involved, taken together, our
results suggest that auxin-induced growth stimulation of tobacco leaf
strips results primarily from a mechanism not involving acid growth.
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INTRODUCTION |
Auxin applied to excised sections from coleoptiles or stems
dramatically stimulates cell elongation after a lag of about 10 min
(Ray and Ruesink, 1962 ; Yamagata and Masuda, 1975 ). The increased growth rate coincides with an efflux of protons (Cleland, 1976 ; Jacobs
and Ray, 1976 ), as well as a hyperpolarization of the PM (Cleland et
al., 1977 ), both apparently consequences of increased activity of an
electrogenic proton pump, the PM H+-ATPase (Senn
and Goldsmith, 1988 ). The correlation between auxin-induced proton
efflux and increased growth is the principal support for the acid
growth theory for the underlying mechanism of auxin action (Hager et
al., 1971 ; Rayle and Cleland, 1972 ). The theory states that
hormone-stimulated proton pumping results in acid-dependent cell wall
loosening (presumably through activation of cell wall enzymes
[Cleland, 1981 ]), which in turn permits cell expansion.
Other evidence supporting the acid-growth theory includes the effect of
the fungal toxin FC (Rayle and Cleland, 1992 ). FC, although unrelated
to auxins in structure (Marrè, 1979 ), is an even stronger
stimulant of proton efflux, PM hyperpolarization (Cleland et al.,
1977 ), and cell elongation than auxin. FC is also believed to stimulate
the activity of the PM H+ATPase but by an
apparently different and more rapid mechanism than auxin. The FC
receptor is now believed to be a 14-3-3 protein (de Boer, 1997 ),
which results in PM hyperpolarization and proton efflux within 30 s
when bound (Cleland, 1990 ).
Recently, we have shown that auxin produces an
epinastic growth response when applied to excised tobacco
(Nicotiana tabacum L.) leaf strips (Keller and Van
Volkenburgh, 1997 ). The response was greatest in intercostal or
nonveinal tissues. Although auxin was found to induce growth of all
tissues across the leaf, epinasty resulted from relatively greater
auxin-induced growth by the adaxial (dorsal) epidermis, as well as by
the underlying palisade mesophyll, than by the abaxial (ventral)
epidermis. Epinastic sensitivity to auxin in tobacco leaves is also
strongly developmentally regulated, with responsiveness correlating
with the cell-expansion phase of growth. This last observation appears
to explain a conflict in the auxin literature. Some of the oldest auxin
studies assert that exogenous auxin has no effect on tobacco leaf
mesophyll growth (Avery, 1935 ; Went and Thimann, 1937 ). These studies,
however, appear to have been carried out using only very young leaves
in which cell division had not given way to cell expansion (Avery, 1933 ; Poethig and Sussex, 1985 ). Recent investigations using more mature leaf material, however, have reported that ATPase and
proton-pumping activities of isolated and purified PM from tobacco
leaves are stimulated by auxin (Santoni et al., 1990 , 1991 ; Masson et
al., 1996 ). The Em of protoplasts prepared from
older tobacco leaf mesophyll has also been found to be sensitive to
auxin (Ephritikhine et al., 1987 ; Barbier-Brygoo et al., 1989 , 1991 ;
Venis et al., 1990 , 1992 ). It appears that leaves develop
responsiveness to auxin as they mature.
In this study we investigated whether the auxin-induced epinastic
growth of tobacco leaf tissues involved a similar acid-growth mechanism
to that seen in the auxin-induced growth responses of other organs.
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MATERIALS AND METHODS |
Plant Material
Batches of approximately 200 tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum
L. cv Xanthi) plants were grown individually in soil-filled pots under greenhouse conditions as previously described (Keller and Van Volkenburgh, 1997 ), except that new batches of plants were sown monthly
and growing leaves (8-10 cm in length) were harvested only from plants
2 to 3 months old. Strips of interveinal leaf tissues 10 mm long (or 13 mm as indicated) and 1.5 mm wide (or 0.7 mm as indicated) were cut from
the distal one-third of the leaves as previously described (Keller and
Van Volkenburgh, 1997 ).
Electrophysiology
Individual leaf strips (adaxial side exposed) were secured against
a plexiglass stage with strands of therostat, preincubated between 1 and 7 h in a solution containing 0.1 mM KCl, 1.0 mM CaCl2, and 1.0 mM Mes/BTP, pH
6.0, and mounted in a perfusion chamber on a microscope stage. The
mounted strip was perfused with preincubation solution and the
Em of microelectrode-impaled cells was
continuously recorded as previously described (Keller and Van
Volkenburgh, 1996a ). Microelectrode tip potentials did not exceed ±10
mV and tip resistances ranged from 10 to 30 M . Successful recordings
(evident as a steadily decreasing potential initially at least as
negative as 80 mV) were of the second cell encountered in each
impalement (assumed to be palisade mesophyll cells). Recordings were
allowed to rest for at least 10 min, until the recorded potential was
changing no more than 0.5 mV min 1. The perfusion solution
was then changed to include 10 µM auxin (NAA) or 1.0 µM FC. One-millimolar NAA stock solutions were prepared by dissolving in 100 µL of EtOH, diluting with 50 mL of equimolar KOH, and heating briefly to 80°C, and 100 µM FC stock
solutions were prepared by dissolving first in ethanol, and then
diluting the ethanol to 10% (v/v).
Proton Efflux Assays
The abaxial epidermis was peeled away from the interveinal regions
of the distal portion of 8- to 10-cm-long leaves using fine forceps.
Peeled regions were trimmed to approximately 3- × 3-mm squares and
placed peeled side up on a thin bed of petroleum jelly on top of rubber
wafers. A 5-µL droplet of a solution containing 10 mM KCl
and 0.1 mM Mes/BTP, pH 6.0, was placed on the exposed mesophyll surface. The wafer bearing the peeled leaf fragment and the
droplet was then enclosed in a small chamber lined with moist tissue
paper.
For continuous recording experiments, the tip of a small-volume
combination pH electrode (model MI-410, Microelectrodes, Inc., Bedford,
NH) was then lowered through a small aperture in the humidity chamber
to make contact with the 5-µL droplet. After the pH of the droplet
had been continuously recorded for 2 h, the droplet was wicked
away with a laboratory tissue and replaced with a fresh 5-µL droplet
of the same solution, or with one also including 10 µM
NAA or 1 µM FC. The pH was then monitored for a further
2 h.
For the noncontinuous recording experiment, a system of staggered
starts was used with wafers bearing peeled leaf fragments (18 per
humidity chamber) being incubated, and the solution was changed as
above without the pH being monitored. After fragments had been in
contact with the second test solution for 4 h, individual wafers
were transferred to a separate humidity chamber, the droplet was then
contacted with the pH electrode as above, and after 2 min the pH was
recorded. This experiment was repeated twice with similar results.
Curvature and Elongation Measurement
Two types of curvature assays were performed: short- term and
long-term. In the short-term experiments longer (13-mm) leaf strips
were prepared under room lighting. The terminal 0.3 mm of one end of
each strip was clamped by a slit cut in a small rubber block. Blocks
with their attached strips were arrayed as prepared in a 60- × 15-mm
Petri dish containing 5 mL of a control solution consisting of 10 mM Suc, 10 mM KCl, and 0.5 mM
Mes/BTP, pH 6.0. Each block was placed in the Petri dish so that
(viewed from above) the strips were oriented on their sides (i.e. in
profile; see fig. 1 in Keller and Van
Volkenburgh [1997]). Once 10 strips were in place (5-10 min), the
Petri dish was placed on a slide/transparency viewer (model 2020/2131
Portaview, Logan Electric, Chicago, IL) under the camera lucida arm of
a microscope. The solution in the Petri dish was then gently removed
and replaced by Pasteur pipette with fresh control solution or the same
solution also containing 10 µM NAA. A time-0 image of the
strips was captured using the camera lucida and a digitizing camera
(model MTI CCD-72SX, Dage, Michigan City, IN) and NIH Image 1.41 software (National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD). Images were
captured at 15-min intervals and thereafter for 5.5 h, the light
box being turned off between Image captures. In one set of experiments,
the control solution was replaced with the auxin-containing solution
after 2 h. The curvature of each strip (i.e. the angle created by
the interception of the tangent to the two terminal portions of the
strip) was measured in degrees at each time point from printed copies
of the stored images using a protractor.

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| Figure 1.
Effect of 10 µM NAA and of 1.0 µM FC on the Em of tobacco
mesophyll cells (sample recordings). Leaf strips (1.5 mm wide) were
prepared from the interveinal regions of the apical one-third of
growing, 8- to 10-cm-long leaves. Palisade mesophyll cell
Em was monitored using a microelectrode inserted
through the overlying adaxial epidermal cell and into a mesophyll cell.
Strips were initially perfused with a solution containing 0.1 mM KCl, 1.0 mM CaCl2, and 1.0 mM Mes/BTP, pH 6.0. At time 0 (vertical dashed line), the
perfusion source was switched to one also containing NAA (10 µM) or FC (1 µM) as indicated.
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For long-term curvature measurements, strips (10 mm long) were placed
immediately into Petri dishes containing 10 mL of either the control,
auxin (10 µM NAA)-containing, or FC (1.0 µM)-containing solution. Incubations were conducted in
dim-green light, although curvature assays conducted under room lights
were found to yield very similar results. The results appeared to be
unaffected by gentle agitation. Strips were incubated for 20 h and
then gently removed from solution, placed onto the light box, and
profile images were captured. Images were used to assess curvature as described above.
Changing length of interveinal strips following 20-h incubations was
also assessed from the digitized images. The length of the adaxial
surface of each strip was determined by tracing the outline of strips
on printed copies of captured images using a digitizing tablet (Kurta)
using SigmaScan software (Jandel Scientific, Corte Madera, CA).
Strips were repeatedly removed from solution and their length was
estimated to the nearest 0.1 mm using a fine-scale ruler to determine
the time course of FC-induced elongation.
Determination of Osmotic Concentration
Leaf strips (20-30 per treatment) were incubated for 20 h in
solutions containing 0.5 mM Mes/BTP, pH 6.0, with or
without 10 mM Suc and 10 mM KCl and with or
without either 10 µM NAA or 1.0 µM FC.
After 20 h, the strips from each treatment were patted dry on
laboratory tissues, enclosed in aluminum, frozen, and thawed. Sap was
expressed and its osmotic concentration was determined using a
vapor-pressure osmometer (model 5100 C, Wescor, Logan, UT).
To confirm the results, curvature, elongation, and osmotic
concentration experiments were repeated twice with similar results.
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RESULTS |
Effects of NAA and FC on Em
Ten-micromolar NAA, a concentration determined to be optimal for
inducing epinastic curvature of strips excised from growing tobacco
leaves (Keller and Van Volkenburgh, 1997 ), caused a slight depolarization of the Em of palisade mesophyll
cells (Fig. 1). Approximately 2 min after the inclusion of NAA in the
perfusion stream (including an estimated 20-30 s lag before the
solution change reached the point of microelectrode impalement), the
Em gradually and transiently depolarized
approximately 5 mV over a 25-min period. Results were similar in 11 experiments, with a mean Em at time 0 (the start
of NAA inclusion in the perfusion stream) of 133 mV (SD = 7.9). The auxin-induced depolarization, measured relative to
Em at time 0 in each recording, reached a maximum after 10 to 16 min and measured on average 6.9 mV (95% confidence interval for the mean 3.3 was 10.5). The depolarization was
no longer significant after 22 min.
Following NAA-induced depolarization, the Em of
the mesophyll cells tended to repolarize back only to approximately the
time-0 value (Fig. 1). Tobacco mesophyll Em
recordings tended to fail over time, but 40 min following the start of
NAA treatment, three of the five recordings that still survived were
slightly hyperpolarized relative to their time-0 values ( 2 or 1
mV), whereas the other two recordings had values that were still slight
depolarizations (3 and 4 mV).
In contrast to the response to NAA, mesophyll cells strongly
hyperpolarized in response to FC (Fig. 1). Following the start of FC
treatment and a 2-min lag the Em hyperpolarized
approximately 48 mV before failing at 20 min. Two additional tests of
the effect of FC also produced strong hyperpolarization responses.
Effects of NAA and FC on Proton Efflux
The ability of NAA and FC to induce an efflux of protons from
tobacco leaf tissues was tested. Using a small-volume pH electrode, we
monitored the pH of a 5-µL droplet of a solution placed onto the
exposed mesophyll surface of leaf fragments from which the abaxial
epidermis had been peeled away. Microscopic examination of free-hand
sections of peeled leaf fragments showed that peeling removed most
spongy mesophyll tissue with the epidermal layer. The palisade cells
remained intact (data not shown). When the droplet was replaced by one
that included 1 µM FC, a sustained measurable
acidification of the droplet resulted (Fig.
2). In contrast, NAA produced no
detectable acidification, and there was a small but significant
alkalization evident after 30 and 60 min.

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| Figure 2.
Influence of NAA and FC on proton efflux by
tobacco leaf mesophyll fragments. Data shown are from both continuous
and noncontinuous recording experiments. In each continuous experiment,
the tip of a small-volume combination pH electrode was placed in
contact with a 5-µL droplet of control solution (10 mM
KCl and 0.1 mM Mes/BTP, pH 6.0) on the exposed surface of a
3- × 3-mm square of a tobacco leaf fragment from which the abaxial
epidermis had been peeled away. After 1 h (at time 0) the droplet
was wicked away and replaced by another 5 µL of fresh control
solution ( ) or by the same solution augmented with either 10 µM NAA ( ) or 1 µM FC ( ). The pH was
monitored for a further 2 h. Data at 4 h were determined once
without previous continuous monitoring. Data are expressed as change in
pH from time 0. pH at time 0 was 6.02 (SD = 0.37; ),
5.99 (SD = 0.36; ), and 5.93 (SD = 0.29;
) and the noncontinuous samples were assumed to have been pH 6.0 at
time-0 pH. Error bars indicate the 95% confidence limits for the mean
(Student's t test); in continuous recording
experiments, n = 9 ( ), n = 10 ( ), and n = 12 ( ), and in the
noncontinuous experiment, n = 18.
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Time Course of the Initiation of NAA- and FC-Induced Growth
In earlier experiments auxin-induced leaf-strip curvature was
evident by 4 h (Keller and Van Volkenburgh, 1997 ). In a new series
of experiments designed to complement the electrical and pH
experiments, we more clearly resolved the initiation of the growth
response (Fig. 3A). Strips incubated in a
control solution were observed to curl slowly over the course of the
experiment. NAA-induced curvature began slowly after 1 h of
incubation, with the increased curvature significant relative to the
controls by 2 h. The maximum rate of curvature increase was
achieved within 2.5 h. When the strips were incubated first in
control solution for 2 h, and then in NAA, the same 1-h lag was
evident before the start of auxin-induced curvature.

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| Figure 3.
Short-term effect of NAA on tobacco leaf-strip
curvature (A) and longer-term effect of FC on strip length (B). In A,
10 strips were each anchored by one end to small rubber blocks in a
Petri dish and incubated in control solution ( ) (10 mM
Suc, 10 mM KCl, and 0.5 mM Mes/BTP [pH 6.0])
or the same solution also including 10 µM NAA ( ), or
first in control solution for 2 h followed by NAA ( ). Images of
the strips were captured every 15 min and curvature was recorded
relative to curvature at time 0. In B, 18 strips per treatment were
incubated in the same control solution ( ) or the same solution plus
FC ( ) for 20 h. At each time point they were gently removed
from solution, their lengths measured, and then returned to the
incubation solution. Error bars indicate 95% confidence limits for
mean change (Student's t test) from time 0.
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When strips were incubated in 1 µM FC, very little
curvature response was evident over the course of 20 h; however,
the strips were observed to elongate. The elongation response to FC was
initiated much more rapidly than was NAA-induced curvature (Fig. 3B).
Short-term measurements of the length of NAA-treated strips showed them
to elongate no faster than the control strips for at least the first 2 h of auxin treatment (data not shown). Unlike control strips, which were observed to elongate slowly over the course of 6 h, FC-treated strips elongated more rapidly within 30 min and were significantly longer by 1 h. FC-induced elongation was also
sustained over many hours (Fig. 3B). Although the increased elongation
rate of the FC-treated strips began slowing after the 1st h, they grew more than the controls between 10 and 20 h.
Effect of Neutral Buffering on NAA- and FC-Induced Growth
The absence of an auxin-induced acidification response (Fig. 2)
that might match the kinetics of the initiation of the curvature response (Fig. 3) suggested that acid growth is not involved in the
auxin-induced growth by tobacco leaf cells. To further test this
possibility, we looked at the effect of a strong neutral buffer (20 mM Mops/BTP, pH 7.0) on both auxin- and FC-induced strip
curvature and on the length of the adaxial surface. Raising the buffer
concentration and pH from 0.5 mM and pH 6.0 to 20 mM and pH 7.0 had a small but statistically significant
depressing effect on curvature in NAA, which dropped from 375° to
303° (Fig. 4A). Curvature in FC,
however, increased from 83° to 235°.

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| Figure 4.
Effect of strong neutral buffering on NAA- and
FC-induced curvature and elongation growth of strips prepared either
1.5 mm in width (wide strips) or 0.7 mm in width (narrow strips). In
the control condition (open columns) the strips were incubated for
20 h in 10 mM Suc and 10 mM KCl with 0.5 mM Mes/BTP, pH 6.0, or 20 mM Mops/BTP, pH 7.0, as indicated. Other strips were incubated in the same solutions
augmented by either 10 µM NAA (diagonally striped
columns) or with 1 µM FC (horizontally striped columns).
After 20 h strips were removed from solution and images of the
strips, in profile view, were captured using a video camera. Strip
curvature and the length of the adaxial surface were then measured from
printed copies of the images. Error bars indicate the 95% confidence
limits for the mean curvature or elongation (Student's
t test; n = 20).
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Figure 4B shows the effect of NAA and FC on the elongation of strips in
both pH 6.0 and 7.0. In the dilute (0.5 mM), pH 6.0 buffer,
strip elongation measured along the longer adaxial surface was more
strongly induced by 10 µM NAA than by 1 µM
FC. The concentrated (20 mM), pH 7.0 buffer had the effect
of depressing both NAA- and FC-induced elongation. However, the
inhibition by neutral buffer was much less for NAA-induced than for
FC-induced elongation. The mean NAA-induced elongation in the 20 mM, pH 7.0 buffer (calculated as the elongation in NAA
minus the control elongation) was 13.4% versus 16.2% in the 0.5 mM, pH 6.0 buffer. Thus, more than 80% of the NAA growth
response was not inhibited by the neutral pH conditions. The mean
FC-induced elongation in the 20 mM pH 7.0 buffer, however,
was 5.4% versus 12.2% in the 0.5 mM pH 6.0 buffer; only
45% of the FC growth response remained in the high pH.
There is some question, however, as to how well the neutral buffer
permeated and neutralized the entire apoplast of the incubated strips
described in Figure 4. The plant epidermal cuticle forms an effective
barrier (Durand and Rayle, 1973 ). Fixed carboxyl groups within cell
wall polymers will also tend to increase the proton and other cation
concentrations within the apoplast in equilibrium with the bathing
solution (for review, see Grignon and Sentenac, 1991 ). In Figure 4 (as
in all earlier experiments) the strips were 1.5 mm wide so that cells
were as much as one-half that of the distance from a cut surface.
Perhaps an incomplete perfusion of the apoplast, especially to the
adaxial side, by the neutral buffer might explain its incomplete
inhibition of both NAA- and FC-induced growth. This possibility was
tested by retesting the effect of neutral buffer on growth of narrower
strips (0.7 mm).
The inhibitory effect of pH 7.0 was much less for NAA- than for
FC-induced elongation; 74% of the NAA elongation response seen in pH
6.0 was not inhibited by pH 7.0, whereas only 25% of the FC response
survived in pH 7.0. These results suggest that although some degree of
wall acidity may be required for tobacco leaf cell enlargement, most of
the auxin-induced growth response does not involve an increase in wall
acidity.
Osmotic Concentration
Plant growth is driven by cell turgor pressure in excess of wall
yield stress and, under most circumstances, is limited by cell wall
extensibility (Cleland, 1981 ; Cosgrove, 1986 ). It is possible, however,
that cell turgor might be growth limiting if it were not in excess of
yield stress. We tested the possibility that auxin-induced leaf-strip
growth might result from auxin-induced turgor regulation by looking at
the effects of absorbable solutes in the incubation medium. The absence
of Suc and KCl had limited effects on both NAA-induced strip curvature
and upon FC-induced strip elongation. The NAA-induced curvature of
strips incubated for 20 h in only 0.5 mM Mes/BTP, pH
6.0, and 10 µM NAA was not significantly less than the
curvature of strips incubated in medium also including 10 mM Suc and 10 mM KCl. FC-induced elongation was
reduced approximately 20% (data not shown).
The presence or absence of Suc and KCl did, however, have a substantial
effect on the osmotic concentration of sap expressed from strips. The
osmotic concentration of strips incubated in Suc and KCl increased over
20 h regardless of treatment, although the increase was
significantly greater in control and NAA-treated strips than in
FC-treated strips (Fig. 5, striped
columns). As might be expected in tissues where uptake of water during
growth dilutes preexisting solutes, osmotic concentration was found to decrease in the absence of absorbable solutes especially in the NAA-
and FC-treated tissue (Fig. 5, open columns). The osmotic concentration
of sap from the variously treated tissue correlated poorly with the
magnitude of growth by similar treatment (compare Fig. 4B with Fig. 5,
striped columns). Since the osmotic concentration of sap serves as an
indicator of cell turgor (Cleland, 1981 ; Cosgrove, 1986 ), these data
suggest that cell growth of excised leaf tissue is limited by cell wall
properties and not by cell turgor.

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| Figure 5.
Effect of absorbable solutes on the osmotic
concentration of tobacco leaf strips. Strips (20-30 per sample) were
either sampled immediately (no incubation) or first incubated for
20 h in 0.5 mM Mes/BTP, pH 6.0 (open bars, no
solutes), alone (control), or also with 10 µM NAA or 1 µM FC. Alternatively, strips were incubated in 0.5 mM Mes/BTP, pH 6.0, augmented by 10 mM Suc and
10 mM KCl (striped bars, solutes) alone, with NAA, or with
FC. The strips were patted dry, frozen, and thawed, and the osmotic
concentration of their expressed sap was determined. Error bars
indicate the 95% confidence limits for mean osmotic concentration
(Student's t test; n = 20 samples
per treatment).
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DISCUSSION |
In our experiments with tobacco leaf strips, we observed an
initial NAA-induced depolarization similar to that seen with oat coleoptiles in response to auxin (Cleland et al., 1977 ; Bates and
Goldsmith, 1983 ; Keller and Van Volkenburgh, 1996a ). We did not
observe, however, a subsequent pronounced Em
hyperpolarization that was evident with auxin-treated oat coleoptile
cells (Fig. 1). We were also unable to detect any NAA-induced
acidification over the course of 2 h or after 4 h (Fig. 2).
FC, however, effectively hyperpolarized the PM and induced an efflux of
protons. Auxin-induced growth proved to be much less sensitive to
inhibition by neutral buffering than was FC-induced growth (Fig. 4),
despite FC being a much more effective stimulator of cell wall
acidification than NAA (Fig. 2). Together, these data indicate that
auxin-induced growth of tobacco leaf strips cannot be primarily
explained by any auxin-induced apoplast-acidification mechanism.
The growth induced by auxin in tobacco leaf strips takes the form of
epinastic curvature (Fig. 4; Keller and Van Volkenburg, 1997), whereas
strips treated with FC grew by elongation with little epinasty (Fig.
4). This may be further evidence that the mode of action for induced
growth differs between these two compounds. FC is believed to stimulate
plant tissue growth entirely as a consequence of PM
H+-ATPase activation and consequent acid wall
loosening (Cleland, 1990 ; Aducci et al., 1995 ; de Boer, 1997 ).
Uniform PM H+-ATPase activation by FC or
diffusion of excreted protons throughout the lamina presumably produced
a uniform pattern of cell growth and elongation of the tobacco leaf
strips. Auxin-induced epinasty results from relatively greater growth
response by the adaxial cell layers (Keller and Van Volkenburg, 1997).
Perhaps the wall-loosening mechanism induced by auxin is not diffusible
within the apoplast. It is interesting that the FC-induced growth of
wide strips became epinastic in the strong neutral buffer (Fig. 4).
This may be an indication that the buffer more effectively neutralized
the lower abaxial halves of the strips, where the cells are more widely spaced and a more complete buffer infusion is likely. When the leaf
strips were prepared only 0.7 mm wide, the epinasty induced in
FC-treated strips in the strong neutral buffer was greatly reduced, an
indication that the buffer more uniformly neutralized the entire
apoplast.
It is possible that auxin-induced changes to ion-channel conductances
mask an increase in PM H+-ATPase activity because
the Em is a function of all electrical currents
across the PM (Hille, 1992 ). Much direct and indirect evidence exists
indicating that auxin treatment modulates other PM membrane
conductances in addition to the activity of PM H+-ATPase in
various systems (Marten et al., 1991 ; Lohse et al., 1992 ; Rück et
al., 1993 ; Blatt and Theil, 1994 ; Zimmermann et al., 1994 ; Keller and
Van Volkenburgh, 1996a , 1996b ).
Changes to other proton or hydroxyl conductances may also mask evidence
of NAA-induced activation of the PM H+-ATPase in
the pH of the extracellular solution. Furthermore, increased
H+ efflux by corn coleoptile segments requires
the presence of K+ (Claussen et al., 1997 ),
presumably because an influx of K+ is required as
a charge balance for the electrogenic proton efflux. Consistent with
the acid growth theory, in the absence of K+ and detectable
proton efflux, no auxin-induced growth occurs (Claussen et al., 1997 ).
We were unable, however, to detect any auxin-induced acidification by
tobacco leaf tissues in the presence of K+ ions
over the course of 2 h or after 4 h (Fig. 2), although
auxin-induced growth of tobacco leaf strips was evident after about
1 h (Fig. 3).
For the leaf cell growth rate to increase following auxin application
cell turgor must increase or some form of cell wall loosening must
occur; either cell wall extensibility must increase, or (conceivably)
cell wall yield threshold must decrease (Cleland, 1981 ; Cosgrove,
1986 ). The lack of an effect by auxin on the osmotic concentration of
cell sap (Fig. 5) indicates that turgor is unchanged. This implies that
NAA-induced growth by tobacco leaf tissues must be the result of some
wall-loosening mechanism.
Partial inhibition of auxin-induced strip elongation by pH 7.0 shows
that the auxin-induced wall-loosening mechanism in tobacco leaf strips
is not completely pH independent. Possibly the apoplast of tobacco leaf
strips is normally sufficiently acidic to permit growth, and auxin
serves to maintain the capacity of the walls to undergo acid-induced
wall loosening (Cleland, 1983 ), perhaps through the production of
wall-loosening enzymes. An obvious possibility is that expansins are
induced (McQueen-Mason, 1995). The 1-h lag before the start of
auxin-induced curvature (Fig. 3) by tobacco leaf strips leaves plenty
of time for a response involving de novo gene induction and protein
synthesis.
An alternate possibility suggested by the lack of complete pH
independence of auxin-induced growth is that some cell wall acidification, undetected as a lowering of pH of the extracellular solution (Fig. 2), does occur and that this accounts for approximately one-quarter of the growth response. Our results do not rule out this
possibility.
Our results suggesting that auxin does not induce increased PM
H+ATPase activity (Figs. 1, 2, and 4) in intact
tobacco mesophyll appear to be in conflict with results collected with
systems derived from similar source materials. ATPase and
proton-pumping activities of isolated and purified PM from tobacco
leaves have been reported to be stimulated by auxin (Santoni et al.,
1990 , 1991 ; Masson et al., 1996 ) but the effect is quite small relative
to baseline activities. Also, treatment with auxin of protoplasts
derived from tobacco mesophyll has been reported to result in a rapid hyperpolarization of the Em of approximately 5 mV within 1 min, as measured by microelectrode impalement (Ephritikhine
et al., 1987 ; Barbier-Brygoo et al., 1989 , 1991 ; Venis et al., 1990 ,
1992 ). These scientists reported that antibodies directed against yeast ATPase blocked the response (Barbier-Brygoo et al., 1989 ), which they
considered to be evidence that the hyperpolarization was a consequence
of PM H+-ATPase activation. These reports remain
controversial, however, because of the relatively small
Em reported either with or without auxin (i.e.
in the range of 0 to 10 mV). Small values have been reported for the
Em of other plant protoplasts (Pantoja and
Willmer, 1986 ), but these are difficult to reconcile with the much more negative potentials generally found for intact cells (i.e. between 100 and 200 mV) (Higinbotham, 1973 ). Van Duijn and
Heimovaara-Dijkstra (1994) have also reported that low protoplast
Em values are an artifact of microelectrode
impalement and that initial, very negative potential transients lasting
a few milliseconds following impalement indicate that the membrane is
much more polarized before impalement.
Our experiments suggest that the mechanism of auxin-induced growth of
tobacco leaf strips is similar to the mechanism by which other nonauxin
plant growth hormones have been found to induce growth of bean leaf
tissues (Brock and Cleland, 1989 , 1990 ). Both GA3
and BA initiated bean leaf growth after a lag of 30 to 50 min by a
mechanism that did not involve osmotic adjustment and increased cell
wall extensibility in some manner not involving acid growth.
 |
FOOTNOTES |
1
This work was supported by National Science
Foundation grant no. MCB-9316947 to E.V.V.
2
Present address: Biology Department, Minot State
University, 500 University Avenue West, Minot, ND 58707.
*
Corresponding author; kellerch{at}warp6.cs.misu.nodak.edu; fax
1-701-858-3163.
Received February 12, 1998;
accepted June 29, 1998.
 |
ABBREVIATIONS |
Abbreviations:
BTP, 1,3-bis(Tris[hydroxymethyl]methylamino)propane.
Em, membrane potential.
FC, fusicoccin.
PM, plasma membrane.
 |
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
We would like to thank Doug Ewing and his staff of the Botany
Department Greenhouses at the University of Washington for their care
of the plants used in these experiments.
 |
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