Plant Physiol. (1998) 118: 793-801
petit1, a Conditional Growth Mutant of Arabidopsis
Defective in Sucrose-Dependent Elongation Growth1
Tetsuya Kurata and
Kotaro T. Yamamoto*
Division of Biological Science, Graduate School of Environmental
Earth Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, 060-0810 Japan
 |
ABSTRACT |
The hypocotyl of Arabidopsis is well
suited for the analysis of cell elongation because it elongates without
cell division. We have isolated a new class of recessive mutants,
petit1 (pet1), which are defective in
aspects of hypocotyl elongation. The short-hypocotyl phenotype of
pet1 is caused by shortened cells. The cells of the elongation zone of the hypocotyl are often deformed.
pet1 also shows defects in elongation of the roots,
flower stalk, leaves, petals, pedicels, and siliques, and these defects
cannot be repaired by the application of auxin, gibberellin,
brassinolide, or an inhibitor of ethylene biosynthesis. The
short-hypocotyl phenotype of pet1 is pronounced only in
growth medium supplemented with sucrose, which has promotive effects on
hypocotyl elongation. In pet1 this effect is much
reduced, causing the sucrose-dependent short-hypocotyl phenotype of
pet1. pet1 accumulates more soluble sugars than the wild type and also shows more intensive iodo-starch staining in the cotyledon and hypocotyl. These results indicate that
PETIT1 is involved in a sugar-dependent elongation process that may
include correct assembly of expanding cell wall architecture.
 |
INTRODUCTION |
The process of cell elongation is a critical aspect of
morphogenesis in plants, and is thought to be regulated by several intrinsic and extrinsic factors. Over the years, physiological and
biochemical studies have revealed many of the components involved in
the process (Ray, 1987
). Several of the known phytohormones act as
intrinsic regulators of cell elongation: GA, auxin, and BR have
a stimulatory function, whereas ethylene, ABA, and cytokinin have an
inhibitory function (Davies, 1995). Coordinated interplay of these
hormones triggers cell wall expansion through the synthesis of new wall
components, their regulated incorporation into the existing
architecture, and the loosening of the structure. Using biochemical
methods, hydrolases and xyloglucan glycosyltransferases have been
identified as potential wall-loosening enzymes (Fry, 1993
; Nishitani,
1995
). Expansins have also been identified as molecules that actually
confer extensibility to isolated cell walls and seem to act on a matrix
polymer that is tightly bound to the surface of cellulose microfibrils
(Cosgrove, 1997
).
Molecular genetics provides a powerful tool for the dissection of many
developmental processes in plants, including cell elongation. For
example, dwarf mutants have been analyzed with respect to cell
elongation, and it has been shown that many of them are defective in
the biosynthesis of phytohormones. GA-deficient mutants were identified
in many species, including Arabidopsis and pea, and used to clarify
pathways of GA biosynthesis and function in cell elongation. The
corresponding genes that encode the enzymes required for GA
biosynthesis have been successfully cloned (Hedden and Kamiya, 1997
).
BR-deficient mutants have also been identified in Arabidopsis and pea,
and the DET2, CPD, and DIM/CBB1/DWF1
genes of Arabidopsis, which code for an enzyme involved in BR
biosynthesis, have been cloned (Takahashi et al., 1995
; Kauschmann et
al., 1996
; Li et al., 1996
; Szekeres et al., 1996
). An auxin-deficient
mutation, uzu, so far identified only in barley, affects the
cell-elongation process through defects in loosening of the cell wall
(Inouhe et al., 1982
; Sakurai and Kuraishi, 1984
).
Mutations with a dwarf phenotype affecting cell wall components have
also been identified. In Arabidopsis mur1 is completely deficient in the cell wall polysaccharide Fuc. In elongating stem segments of mur1 plants, the force required to break their
primary walls upon longitudinal stretching is less than one-half of
that in wild-type plants, but the overall anatomy of the segments and the wall thickness are not obviously altered, indicating that mur1 has a defect in the intrinsic mechanical properties of
the walls (Reiter et al., 1993
). Recently, the MUR1 gene was
cloned and found to encode an isoform of
GDP-D-Man-4,6-dehydratase, which catalyzes the first step
in the de novo synthesis of GDP-L-Fuc (Bonin et al., 1997
).
A few mutants with complex changes in the monosaccharide composition of
their cell walls have also been found to be dwarfs (Reiter et al.,
1997
). Overexpression of an Arabidopsis gene, TINY, causes a
dwarf phenotype. It was recently identified by activation tagging and
shown to encode a protein with homology to a class of transcription
factors (Wilson et al., 1996
); however, the target of the
TINY gene remains unknown. The Arabidopsis
RHD3 gene is also required for regulated cell enlargement and has been shown to encode an evolutionarily conserved protein with
GTP-binding motifs. The RHD3 product may function in vacuole biogenesis and may control cell enlargement by increasing the size of vacuoles (Wang et al., 1997
). The Arabidopsis SABRE
gene is involved in a pathway antagonistic to the ethylene pathway for
cell enlargement and has been shown to encode a novel protein conserved
in several plant species (Aeschbacher et al., 1995
).
To identify new components involved in cell elongation, we isolated a
series of mutants defective in hypocotyl elongation. The hypocotyl of
Arabidopsis is a good system for the analysis of cell elongation
because after germination it elongates without cell division (Desnos et
al., 1996
; Gendreau et al., 1997
). Taking advantage of simple
hypocotyl elongation, many loci involved in the ethylene response and
photomorphogenesis have been discovered (Chory, 1993
; Ecker, 1995
).
Here we describe a new locus, PETIT1 (PET1), which is essential for cell elongation in
various organs such as the hypocotyl, root, flower stalk, leaf, petal,
pedicel, and silique. The growth defect of the mutant was only obvious on medium containing Suc, which had promotive effects on hypocotyl elongation in Arabidopsis; these effects were not seen in
pet1. In addition, we found that the pet1 defect
was often associated with a deformation of hypocotyl structure. The
growth analysis of pet1 mutants in the present study
suggests an unexpected relationship between cell wall synthesis and the
control by Suc of the processes of cell elongation.
 |
MATERIALS AND METHODS |
Plant Materials and Growth Conditions
Arabidopsis ecotype Landsberg erecta was
used as the wild type. Seeds mutagenized with fast neutrons were
purchased from Lehle Seeds (Round Rock, TX). Mutants that were
back-crossed twice were used for phenotypic characterization.
Seeds were surface sterilized with 1.5% (v/v) sodium hypochlorite and
0.02% (v/v) Triton X-100 for 5 min with vigorous shaking, and then
washed several times with sterile water. Seeds chilled at 4°C for 2 to 4 d in water were usually plated onto one-half-strength Murashige-Skoog medium supplemented with Gamborg B5 vitamins and 1%
Suc (pH 5.7-5.8). The plates were illuminated with continuous white light (43 W m
2) for 24 h at 22°C
to induce germination. In the present study the age of seedlings is
described as the time after transfer from 4°C to 22°C. Seeds were
sometimes sown onto rock wool surrounded with a 1:1 (v/v) mixture of
vermiculite and Metro-Mix 350 (Scotts-Sierra Horticultural Co.,
Marysville, OH) in a pot and grown at 22°C under continuous light.
Plants were subirrigated with water or 1000-fold-diluted Hyponex
(Murakami-Bussan, Tokyo, Japan) every 2 d.
Light Sources
White light (43 W m
2) was obtained from
five 40-W white fluorescent light bulbs (FL40SS W/37, Sanyo, Tokyo,
Japan). Dim white light (0.42 W m
2) was
obtained from the same white fluorescent light bulbs filtered through
a black acrylic sheet (no. 909, Takiron, Osaka, Japan). Broad-band green light (3.8 W m
2) was obtained
from five 20-W white fluorescent light bulbs (FL20SS EX-N/18,
Matsushita, Osaka, Japan) filtered through a green plastic film
(maximum wavelength = 512 nm, maximum transmittance = 45.7%, one-half bandwidth = 69 nm). Fluence rates were measured with an
optometer (model 370, Graseby Optronics, Orlando, FL).
Measurement of Length
The length of plant organs was measured from an image of 15 to 30 seedlings taken with a CCD (charge-coupled device) camera and captured
to a desktop computer as described previously (Kurata and Yamamoto,
1997
).
Microscopy
For scanning electron microscopy, seedlings were fixed overnight
in FAA (5% [v/v] acetic acid, 45% [v/v] ethanol, and 5% [v/v] formaldehyde), and then dehydrated in a graded ethanol series at room
temperature. Isoamyl acetate was then gradually substituted for the
ethanol and the seedlings were critical-point dried in liquid
CO2. After mounting of individual samples on
stubs for scanning electron microscopy, they were sputter-coated with
gold using an ion sputter coater (model JFC-1100, Jeol), and analyzed using a scanning electron microscope (model JSM-T20, Jeol). For light
microscopy, seedlings were fixed overnight in FAA and dehydrated as
described above. Completely dehydrated samples were embedded in
Technovit 7100 (Kulzer, Wehrheim, Germany) according to the method of
Tsukaya et al. (1993)
. Sections 5 µm thick were cut with Histoknives
(Kulzer) on a microtome (model RM2135, Leica), affixed to glass slides,
and stained with 0.1% (w/v) toluidine blue at room temperature for 1 min. Specimens were examined with a microscope (Axioplan, Zeiss) and
photographed under bright-field illumination. For measurements of
number or length of cells, seedlings were examined with the light
microscope after immersion in India ink.
Chemical Assays
Anthocyanin was extracted from 20 seedlings, as described by
Peters et al. (1989)
, and the amount was estimated from the
A535 value. Total chlorophyll was estimated
as described previously (Kurata and Yamamoto, 1997
).
Soluble sugars were determined enzymatically according to the method of
Heim et al. (1993)
. They were extracted from whole seedlings with 80%
(v/v) ethanol at 80°C for 2 h, and after evaporation were
dissolved in sterile water. Suc, Glc, and Fru were determined enzymatically using sugar-determination kits (Boehringer Mannheim). For
iodo-starch staining, seedlings were immersed in 100% ethanol to
extract chlorophyll. Bleached samples were stained in 0.2 N HCl containing 5.7 mM I2 and 43.3 mM KI (Casper et al., 1985
), washed in 100%
ethanol, and soaked in water.
Genetic Mapping
The PET1 locus was mapped using a combination of CAPS
and RFLP molecular markers (Konieczny and Ausubel, 1993
) and
morphological markers. pet1-1 was outcrossed with the
Columbia (Col-0) ecotype, and the F2 generation
was analyzed. In this population, the erecta mutation on
chromosome 2 was found to be linked to pet1. CAPS analysis
with mi238 was carried out using genomic DNA prepared from 46 F2 pet1 plants using the phenol/SDS method
(Liu et al., 1995
). Genomic DNA from the F3 lines
was used for the RFLP analysis with mi139 and mi148. The RFLP marker
mi238 was sequenced and converted to a CAPS marker (T. Kurata and K.T.
Yamamoto, unpublished data). Linkage was calculated along with the
Kosambi mapping function described by Koornneef and Stam (1992)
.
 |
RESULTS |
Isolation and Genetic Characterization of Short-Hypocotyl
Mutants
We initially screened light-hypersensitive mutants, which have a
shorter hypocotyl than the wild type, under weak, continuous, far-red
light in sugar-containing solidified medium. From 20,000 plants from
the M2 population mutagenized with
fast neutrons and 4,900 lines mutagenized by T-DNA insertion (Feldmann,
1991
), we picked out 18 and 4 mutant lines, respectively. We excluded
the typical deetiolation mutants, which displayed photomorphogenetic phenotypes in the dark: short hypocotyl, expanded cotyledon, initiation of foliage leaves, and accumulation of anthocyanin (Chory, 1993
). The
mutants we isolated exhibited the short-hypocotyl phenotype both in the
dark and in the light, but did not show the other photomorphogenetic
responses in the dark. We assigned four complementation groups by
carrying out complementation tests of these mutants (data not shown).
We describe one of them, which we designated pet1.
pet1 consisted of two allelic lines, both of which were
isolated from fast-neutron-mutagenized M2 lines.
When they were back-crossed to the wild type, the
F1 progeny had a wild-type phenotype, indicating that the mutation was recessive to wild type. Segregation analysis of
the F2 progeny indicated that these mutants were
monogenic in terms of the short-hypocotyl phenotype (data not shown).
The F1 progeny of the two mutants had the
short-hypocotyl phenotype, indicating that they were allelic. We did
not observe any allele-specific variations of phenotype between the two
allelic mutants other than those described below.
pet1 was mapped to the region of chromosome 2 between mi139
and mi238. It was located 2.2 ± 1.5 centimorgans south of mi139 and 7.5 ± 2.8 centimorgans north of mi238, and tightly linked to
mi148 (no crossover was found in 92 chromosomes). In this region two
mutations, compacta2 (cp2) (Koornneef et al.,
1983
) and superroot (sur) (Boerjan et al.,
1995), which cause a short-hypocotyl phenotype in the dark, have been
mapped previously. Complementation tests between pet1-1 and
cp2 or sur demonstrated that pet1 was
a new mutation (data not shown).
Phenotype at the Seedling Stage
At the postgermination stage (2 d old), dark- and light-grown
wild-type seedlings had similar morphologies, including hook formation,
etiolated cotyledon, and unelongated hypocotyl and root, whereas
pet1-1 had no hook and had paler cotyledons than the wild
type. Hypocotyls of pet1-1 were as long as those of the wild
type (Fig. 1A). Fully grown hypocotyls of
dark- and light-grown pet1-1 seedlings (7 d old) were
shorter than those of the wild type by factors of 1.5 and 2, respectively (Figs. 1B and 2A). Growth kinetics of the
pet1-1 hypocotyl (Fig. 2A)
showed that the short-hypocotyl phenotype did not result from delayed
germination.

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| Figure 1.
Morphologies of dark- and light-grown wild-type
and pet1 seedlings. A and B, Two- (A) and seven-day-old
(B) wild-type (left) and pet1-1 seedlings (right) were
grown at 22°C for 1 and 6 d in the dark (top) or light (bottom)
after light exposure for 1 d to promote germination. C to F,
Surface view of the upper part of the hypocotyl of 7-d-old wild-type (C
and E) and pet1-1 (D and F) seedlings grown in the dark
(C and D) or the light (E and F). G to J, Scanning electron micrographs
(G and H) and cross-sections (I and J) of the upper part of the
hypocotyl of 13-d-old dark-grown wild-type (G and I) and
pet1-1 (H) and pet1-2 (J)
seedlings. Scale bars: A, 1 mm; B, 1 cm; C to G, 100 µm; H, 400 µm;
I, 100 µm; and J, 200 µm.
|
|

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| Figure 2.
Elongation kinetics of hypocotyl (A), root (B),
and cotyledon (C), of dark- and light-grown wild-type ( ) and
pet1-1 seedlings ( ). A different set of about 20 seedlings was used for each measurement. Vertical bars indicate
SD.
|
|
pet1-1 also showed defects in the elongation of roots and
cotyledons (Fig. 1B). Root growth of light-grown pet1-1
seedlings was slower than that of the wild type. Root length of
dark-grown seedlings reached a maximum about 6 d after
germination, and the maximum length of pet1 roots was about
3 times shorter than that of the wild type (Fig. 2B). The elongation of
root hairs was not affected in pet1 (data not shown),
indicating that PET1 is not required for tip growth.
Cotyledons of the wild type elongated rapidly after 4 d of growth
in the light, but pet1-1 cotyledons elongated more slowly
during this period (Fig. 2C). In the dark, cotyledons of both genotypes
elongated at a similar rate, which was much reduced compared with that
in the light, confirming that pet1 is not a deetiolation
mutant that shows expansion of cotyledons even in the dark (Chory,
1993
).
To investigate the defect in hypocotyl elongation at a cellular level,
we conducted a microscopic analysis of hypocotyl cells of light-grown
seedlings (Table I). On d 2 after
germination, epidermal cells of pet1-1 hypocotyls were of
regular shape and their length and width were the same as those of the
wild type. In both wild type and pet1-1, epidermal cells
then started to expand, but by d 7, pet1-1 cells were
significantly shorter than those of the wild type. We did not observe
significant differences in either width or number of hypocotyl
epidermal cells within a cell file between wild type and
pet1. These results indicate that the short-hypocotyl
phenotype of pet1 derives from defects in the
cell-elongation process.
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Table I.
Length, width, and number of hypocotyl epidermal
cells of light-grown wild-type and pet1-1 seedlings at d 2 and 7 after germination
|
|
Some light- and dark-grown pet1 seedlings exhibited surface
irregularities in the upper part of their hypocotyls (Fig. 1, C-F). In
seedlings grown for 10 d in the dark, deformation of the hypocotyl
surface occurred in about 6% and 12% of pet1-1 and pet1-2, respectively. Longer culture in the dark increased
both the frequency and the extent of the irregularities: as many as 38% of 13-d-old dark-grown pet1-2 seedlings showed the
abnormal hypocotyl surface, and the deformation became as dramatic as
that shown in Figure 1H. Some of these seedlings also had foliage
leaves that were twisted or swollen. Examination of the distorted
regions of pet1-2 by light microscopy revealed that many
epidermal, cortical, and endodermal cells appeared swollen, but some
epidermal cells were compressed (Fig. 1J). These results are consistent
with the surface view of the deformed hypocotyl.
It is noteworthy that pet1 accumulated anthocyanin in the
light (Fig. 1F). Extraction and quantitation of anthocyanin and chlorophyll showed that pet1 contained about 3- to 4-fold
more anthocyanin than the wild type, but had about a 2-fold lower
chlorophyll content in the light.
Phenotype at the Adult Stage
Figure 3A shows adult
pet1 plants grown in soil, which clearly exhibit semi-dwarf
characteristics. A time-course study of elongation of the first flower
stalk showed that pet1 started to bolt at the same time as
the wild type on d 25, but its stem elongated more slowly, resulting in
an approximately 1.5-fold reduction in height compared with the wild
type at maturity. Defects in the elongation process were also obvious
in rosette leaves (Fig. 3B); the radius of pet1 rosettes was
less than that of the wild type. A reduction in the length of petioles
and leaf blades was obvious in pet1-1, but the width of the
leaf blade was essentially the same as that of the wild type. A more
significant reduction in the length of leaf blades appeared in leaves
that developed later (Fig. 3B). A decrease in length was also observed
in pedicels, siliques, and petals (Fig. 3, C and D). Accumulation of
anthocyanin was also observed in early developing flower buds of
pet1 plants (data not shown).

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| Figure 3.
Adult-plant phenotype of wild-type and
pet1 grown in soil at 22°C under continuous white
light. A, Overall morphologies of 40-d-old wild-type,
pet1-1, and pet1-2 plants from left to
right. Scale bar = 5 cm. B, Leaves of the wild type (top row) and
pet1-1 (bottom row). From left to right are shown
seven rosette leaves and two cauline leaves. Scale bar = 1 cm. C and D, Silique and petal of wild-type (left) and
pet1-1 (right) plants, respectively. Scale bars = 1 mm.
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|
GA, Auxin, BR, and AVG Did Not Repair the Short-Hypocotyl
Phenotype
We conducted feeding experiments to determine whether the
pet1 phenotype was caused by a deficiency in phytohormones.
Additions of GA3
(10
10-10
5
M), IAA
(10
10-10
5
M), or BR
(10
10-10
6
M) to the culture medium did not repair the short-hypocotyl
phenotype. Alternatively, because ethylene inhibits cell elongation,
pet1 could be an overproducer of ethylene; therefore, we
examined the effects of an inhibitor of ethylene biosynthesis, AVG. The
short-hypocotyl phenotype of pet1 was not reversed by the
addition of AVG
(10
8-10
5
M). These results indicate that pet1 is neither
a hormone-deficient mutant nor an ethylene-overproducing mutant.
Influence of Suc on Hypocotyl Elongation
Arabidopsis was usually grown on a medium containing 1% Suc,
under which conditions pet1 hypocotyls were shorter than
those of the wild type. However, on a Suc-free medium, the
short-hypocotyl phenotype almost disappeared, although pet1
hypocotyls were still about 15% shorter than those of the wild type
(Fig. 4A). To further characterize the
effect of Suc on hypocotyl elongation, the kinetics of hypocotyl
elongation were measured in the presence or absence of Suc. Because
under normal white-light conditions seedlings are short as a result of
the inhibitory effects of light on hypocotyl elongation, we
checked hypocotyl growth under dim white light so that changes in
elongation could be detected more easily (Fig. 4B). Suc was found to
affect the maximum length of hypocotyl that was reached 8 to 10 d
after germination. The addition of 1% Suc to the growth medium
increased the maximum length of wild-type hypocotyls both in the dark
and in dim light, and the Suc-induced increase was larger in
light-grown than in dark-grown seedlings. In the pet1 mutant
the Suc-induced increase in length was much smaller than in the wild
type, resulting in the obvious short-hypocotyl phenotype of
pet1 in the presence of Suc. This suggests that the pet1 mutant could not use the exogenously supplied Suc for
elongation as efficiently as the wild type. We then investigated the
effect of Suc concentration on the maximum length of wild-type
hypocotyls and found that the optimal concentration was 1%. The
promotive effects decreased gradually at higher concentrations (data
not shown).

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| Figure 4.
Effects of 1% Suc in the growth medium on
hypocotyl elongation of wild-type and pet1-1 seedlings
grown in the dark (A) or under continuous dim light (B). Seedlings were
grown in the absence ( ) or presence ( ) of 1% Suc. A different
set of about 20 seedlings was used for each measurement. Vertical bars
indicate SD.
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Overaccumulation of Soluble Sugars and Starch in
pet1 Mutants
It was expected that if pet1 could not use exogenously
added Suc for cell elongation, accumulation of sugar might be greater in pet1 than in the wild type. We tested this possibility
directly by quantitation of soluble sugars. Figure
5 shows that pet1 mutants grown in a medium supplemented with Suc contained more soluble sugars
(Suc, Glc, and Fru) than the wild type. We also stained the seedlings
with iodine to detect starch (Fig. 6).
Weak staining was observed in the cotyledons, the upper parts of the
hypocotyl, and in the root tips of the wild type. In hypocotyls of the
wild type, starch granules were observed throughout the cytoplasm. Staining of hypocotyls and cotyledons was more intense in
pet1 than in the wild type, but was similar for root tips.
These results are consistent with the hypothesis that growth defects of
pet1 mutants are related to the deficiency in usage of
sugars for cell elongation.

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| Figure 5.
Quantitation of water-soluble sugars in 6-d-old
wild-type and pet1 seedlings grown in the dark at 22°C
in the presence of 1% Suc. Vertical bars indicate SD. FW,
Fresh weight; WT, wild type.
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| Figure 6.
Iodine staining of starch of 6-d-old wild-type
and pet1-1 seedlings grown under continuous dim light in
the presence of 1% Suc. A, Wild type (left) and pet1-1
(right). B and C, Magnified hypocotyl cells of wild-type and
pet1-1 seedlings, respectively. Note the intensive
staining of starch granules of pet1-1. Scale bars: A, 1 cm; B, 100 µm.
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Effect of Green-Light Irradiation in a Sugar-Free Medium
The observation that exogenously supplied Suc induced the
pet1 short-hypocotyl phenotype raised the question of
whether sugars produced endogenously by photosynthesis could also cause
a similar phenotype. Because photosynthetically active blue and red
light inhibit hypocotyl growth (Kendrick and Kronenberg, 1994), we grew seedlings under continuous green light, which is the least effective wavelength for inhibition of growth (Goto et al., 1993
). Exposure to
green light induced a small but significant difference in hypocotyl length between wild type and pet1-1, even in the absence of
Suc (Table II). We also tested the
effects of the photosynthesis inhibitor DCMU on this phenomenon. Upon
addition of 1 µM DCMU, a concentration that has been
found to completely inhibit photosynthesis in Arabidopsis (Kurata and
Yamamoto, 1997
), the difference in hypocotyl length between the wild
type and pet1 under green light disappeared as a result of a
decrease in the length of the wild type (Table II). These results
suggest that the short-hypocotyl phenotype of pet1 is a
consequence of its inability to use sugars for hypocotyl growth,
whether they are supplied in the medium or produced endogenously by
photosynthesis.
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Table II.
Effects of continuous green light on hypocotyl
length in the absence of Suc
Seedlings were initially grown under continuous white light (43 W
m 2) for 24 h and were then grown in the dark or in
dim white light (0.42 W m 2) or green light (3.8 W
m 2) for 5 d at 22°C in the presence (+DCMU) or
absence ( DCMU) of 1 mM DCMU.
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 |
DISCUSSION |
Our results demonstrate that PET1 is essential for cell
elongation throughout Arabidopsis development in a variety of organs, including the hypocotyl, root, leaf, inflorescence stem, petal, pedicel, and silique (Figs. 1B and 3). Microscopy revealed that the
reduced elongation in the hypocotyl was associated with a reduction in
cell length, rather than in cell number. Cell elongation in plants is
known to be regulated by the action of phytohormones (Evans, 1984
);
however, the possibility that the pet1 phenotype is a result
of a deficiency in GA, auxin, or BR synthesis was likely to be ruled
out by feeding experiments. Furthermore, we tested the possibility that
PET1 acts in opposition to the ethylene pathway and promotes cell
elongation rather than radial cell expansion, as proposed for the
SABRE gene product (Aeschbacher et al., 1995
). This
possibility was also ruled out by the finding that an inhibitor of
ethylene biosynthesis, AVG, did not reverse the pet1
phenotype. These results suggest that PET1 acts independently of the
phytohormones tested.
The short-hypocotyl phenotype of pet1 mutants is obvious
only when Suc is supplied in the culture medium. In the absence of Suc,
no significant differences in hypocotyl length were observed between
the wild type and pet1 in the light (Fig. 4B), and in the
dark there was only a 15% reduction in pet1 (Fig. 4A). The short-hypocotyl phenotype of pet1 is associated with an
inability to increase hypocotyl growth upon the addition of Suc; this
is in contrast to the wild type, in which significant elongation occurs. Therefore, the pet1 phenotype is conditional,
depending on the presence of Suc. In the wild type, photosynthesis
driven by green light was able to significantly promote hypocotyl
elongation in the absence of Suc, but this treatment did not increase
hypocotyl elongation of pet1 (Table II). This suggests that
in the wild type the photosynthetic product(s) can at least partially
replace the effect of Suc in the culture medium. Adult pet1
plants grown auxotrophically are shorter than wild-type plants (Fig.
3A), which is consistent with this conclusion. The conditional
phenotype of pet1 suggests that pet1 defects are
related to the use of sugars in the process of cell elongation.
Several conditional growth mutants have been reported. Conditional
root-expansion mutants are conditional on the growth rate of roots.
They exhibit reduced growth and abnormal expansion of their roots only
when cultured in optimum growth conditions in terms of temperature,
light, and Suc concentration (4%) of nutrient medium (Benfey et al.,
1993
; Hauser et al., 1995
). pet1 is distinct from the
conditional root-expansion class of mutants because growth retardation
of pet1 is obvious in the light, in which the growth rate is
significantly reduced, if 1% Suc is added to the medium (Fig. 4).
In the presence of Suc a deformation of hypocotyl structure is
sometimes seen in pet1 seedlings, raising the possibility
that the cell wall might be a target site of PET1. Similar
structural irregularities have been reported in procuste1
(prc1), another conditional growth mutant of Arabidopsis
that has a hypocotyl-elongation defect only in the dark (Desnos et al.,
1996
). The aerial phenotype of prc1 grown in the light is
indistinguishable from the wild type at both the seedling and adult
stages. The elongation defect observed in the dark is always associated
with a deformation of the hypocotyl surface that results from an
uncontrolled swelling and compression of epidermal, cortical, or
endodermal cells. The irregularities can be phenocopied by the
treatment of wild-type seedlings with an inhibitor of cellulose
biosynthesis. PRC1 is suggested to play a role in the
correct assembly of the expanding cell wall. A mutation in the
MUR1 locus that encodes an enzyme in the first step of de
novo synthesis of GDP-L-Fuc (Bonin et al., 1997
) causes Fuc
deficiency in cell walls; consequently, a deformed, short-hypocotyl
phenotype occurs (Desnos et al., 1996
). In pet1 deformation
of the hypocotyl is not always observed. However, the occasional
occurrence of an irregular hypocotyl surface suggests that smaller
defects occur in the cell wall architecture of pet1 seedlings even if they are not detectable microscopically. In fact, in
the dark, defects in elongation are more severe in prc1 than
in pet1. The irregular hypocotyl structure of
pet1 suggests that, like PRC1, the cell wall is a
target site of PET1. Cell wall architecture could be
affected by Suc availability in the cell, and PET1 might be
needed for the correct organization of the cell wall in the presence of
Suc. An apparent defect of pet1 in the use of Suc may result
from the deformation of hypocotyl structure in the presence of Suc.
Overaccumulation of sugars (Fig. 5) and starch (Fig. 6) was observed in
pet1 seedlings. pet1 also contained more
anthocyanin and less chlorophyll than the wild type. This is probably
because, in Arabidopsis, accumulation of anthocyanin is induced
(Tsukaya et al., 1991
; Koch, 1996
) and chlorophyll biosynthesis is
repressed (Koch, 1996
; Jang et al., 1997) by sugars. The dwarf
mutants of Arabidopsis, det2-1 and ga1-3, which
are deficient in BR (Li et al., 1996
) and GA (Sun and Kamiya, 1994
),
respectively, also showed overaccumulation of starch in the medium
supplemented with Suc (data not shown). In contrast to pet1,
however, they always showed the short-hypocotyl phenotype independent
of the presence of Suc. Therefore, accumulation of sugars and starch in
pet1 does not seem to be a cause but a consequence of its
dwarfness. It also suggests that Suc uptake is not likely to be
affected by the pet1 mutation.
In conclusion, PET1 seems to be required for cell elongation and
correct cell wall structure of the hypocotyl in the presence of Suc.
Map-based cloning of the PET1 locus in progress in our laboratory will enable us to gain further knowledge of the molecular basis underlying the complex network of growth control in plants.
 |
FOOTNOTES |
1
This work was supported in part by a
grant-in-aid from the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture of
Japan (no. 05276102 to K.T.Y.).
*
Corresponding author; e-mail kty{at}ees.hokudai.ac.jp; fax
81-11-706-2253.
Received March 13, 1998;
accepted August 3, 1998.
 |
ABBREVIATIONS |
Abbreviations:
AVG, aminoethoxyvinylglycine.
BR, brassinolide.
CAPS, cleaved-amplified polymorphic sequence.
RFLP, restriction
fragment-length polymorphism.
 |
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
The authors thank S. Hosono for his help in the initial
screening of the mutants, and Drs. J. Chory (Salk Institute, San
Diego, CA) and W. Boerjan (Gent University, Belgium) for
det2-1 and sur seeds, respectively. We also thank
the Arabidopsis Biological Resource Center (Ohio State University,
Columbus) for the cp2 and ga1-3 seeds and for the
RFLP clones mi139, mi148, and mi238.
 |
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