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Plant Physiol. (1999) 119: 21-30
Adventitious Root Growth and Cell-Cycle Induction in Deepwater
Rice1
René Lorbiecke and
Margret Sauter*
Institut für Allgemeine Botanik, Angewandte Molekularbiologie
der Pflanzen II, Ohnhorststrasse 18, D-22609 Hamburg, Germany
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ABSTRACT |
Deepwater rice (Oryza
sativa) is adapted to survive conditions of severe flooding
over extended periods of time. During such periods adventitious roots
develop to provide water, nutrients, and anchorage. In the present
study the growth of adventitious roots was induced by treatment with
ethylene but not auxin, cytokinin, or gibberellin. Root elongation was
enhanced between 8 and 10 h after submergence. The population of
cells in the S phase and expression of the S-phase-specific histone H3
gene increased within 4 to 6 h. Within 6 to 8 h the G2-phase
population increased. Cell-cycle activation was accompanied by
sequential induction of a cdc2-activating kinase
homolog, R2, of two cdc2 genes, cdc2Os-1
and cdc2Os-2, and of three cyclin genes,
cycA1;3, cycB2;1, and
cycB2;2, but only induction of the R2 gene expression
preceded the induction of the S phase, possibly contributing to
cell-cycle regulation in the G1 phase. Both cdc2 genes
were expressed at slightly higher levels during DNA replication.
Transcripts of the A-type cyclin accumulated during the S and G2
phases, and transcripts of the B-type cyclins accumulated during the G2
phase. Cyclin expression was induced at all nodes with a similar time
course, suggesting that ethylene acts systemically and that root
primordia respond to ethylene at an early developmental stage.
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INTRODUCTION |
Deepwater rice (Oryza sativa) plants are particularly
well adapted for surviving conditions of partial submergence. When
flooded, growth of the youngest internode accelerates to keep the
uppermost leaves above the rising water level, and adventitious roots
grow from the nodes to provide water and nutrients to the newly
developing upper parts of the plant.
Internodal growth has been characterized in detail in the past (Kende,
1987 ; Kende et al., 1993 ; Lorbiecke and Sauter, 1998 ). Induction of
adventitious root growth is less well understood. Both processes are
hormonally regulated. Submergence as the primary signal leads to an
accumulation of ethylene in the plant, through both increased ethylene
biosynthesis and physical entrapment as a result of the low rate of
diffusion of ethylene in water. In the internode, ACC synthase
activity, the rate-limiting step in ethylene biosynthesis, is increased
approximately 8-fold upon submergence (Cohen and Kende, 1987 ). One
member of the multigene family of ACC synthases in rice was expressed
at higher levels in the internode after 12 h of submergence,
possibly contributing to long-term ethylene biosynthesis (Zarembinsky
and Theologis, 1997 ). ACC synthase activity in the nodal tissue is
already high in air-grown plants and remains high after submergence
(Cohen and Kende, 1987 ).
ACC oxidase activity and gene expression are induced approximately
2-fold in the nodal tissue after 4 h of submergence and eventually
reach higher levels (Mekhedov and Kende, 1996 ), which probably
contributes to long-term ethylene synthesis. Ethylene is only an
intermediary player in the signal transduction pathway leading to
internodal growth. The immediate growth-promoting hormone is GA (Raskin
and Kende, 1984 ; Kende, 1987 ). Ethylene leads to an increased GA
concentration in the tissue and to an increased responsiveness of the
tissue toward GA, making lower GA concentrations more effective (Raskin
and Kende, 1984 ). It has been suggested that a decrease in ABA levels
in the internode is responsible for this change of sensitivity
(Hoffmann-Benning and Kende, 1992 ). In general, ABA is known to
counteract GA responses.
Adventitious roots are shoot-borne roots that are initiated as part of
normal plant development in deepwater rice. As the plant develops the
root initials mature to root primordia bearing all of the
characteristic features found in primary or lateral roots, including
the connection to the vasculature. However, unless treated with an
appropriate stimulus, such as submergence or ethylene, the root
primordia will not emerge through the nodal epidermis (see Fig. 9;
Suge, 1985 ; Bleecker et al., 1987 ). Involvement of hormones other than
ethylene in the induction of root primordia growth was not analyzed in
great detail and thus cannot be ruled out. One difference between the
induction of internodal and adventitious root growth by ethylene has
become obvious from the studies of Bleecker et al. (1986) . Whereas stem
growth is saturated at 10 ppm ethylene, induction of adventitious root
growth is much more sensitive to ethylene, with a saturating
concentration at approximately 0.3 ppm. This suggests that signal
transduction in the internode and in the node involves at least partly
different mechanisms.

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| Figure 9.
Development and submergence-induced growth of
adventitious roots from the youngest (1st) to the oldest (4th) node of
adult plants. The first column shows cross-sections through the four
different nodes of air-grown plants. The arrowheads indicate the
positions of root initials. The second column shows front views of the
four different nodes of air-grown plants. The third column shows front
views of the four different nodes 10 h after submergence
treatment. The adventitious roots at the second, third, and fourth
nodes have emerged through the epidermis.
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During formation of adventitious roots distinct developmental stages
can be distinguished: (a) initiation, (b) early development, (c) growth
arrest, and (d) emergence of the root primordium (which can also be
characterized at the molecular level on the basis of gene expression or
mutant phenotypes). Initiation of adventitious roots from
differentiated cells in tobacco is marked by HRGPnt3 gene
expression induced before the first primordial cell division (Vera et
al., 1994 ). Early lateral and adventitious root primordium development
in Arabidopsis is characterized by the expression of the
LRP1 gene, which in lateral roots was shown to be turned off
before the emergence of the primordium (Smith and Feodoroff, 1995 ). The
rml (root
meristemless) mutants of Arabidopsis (Cheng et al., 1995 ) are characterized by growth arrest of lateral and adventitious roots at a size of less than 2 mm, and the RML
genes may thus be considered as markers for late lateral and
adventitious root development, including emergence of the root
primordium. The paucity of such data indicates that regulation of
secondary root development, including adventitious root formation, is
far from understood.
It is at this later stage, when adventitious root primordia have
matured but not yet emerged through the nodal epidermal layer, when
growth induction by submergence occurs in deepwater rice. To understand
the regulation of this induction we analyzed the role of ethylene and
other plant hormones as signaling components in roots. To understand
the different mechanisms of growth regulation in adventitious root
primordia compared with growth induction in the internode, we analyzed
the regulation of cell growth and division in root primordia in
response to the inductive signals.
Known cell-cycle regulatory genes from rice (Sauter, 1997 ) shown to be
involved in regulating cell division in the internode (Sauter et al.,
1995 ; Lorbiecke and Sauter, 1998 ) were analyzed with respect to a
potential involvement in root meristem induction. Our results indicate
that the cell-division cycle is activated in the intercalary
meristem of the internode and in the apical adventitious root
meristem with very similar kinetics. Despite these similarities the
divergent expression patterns of cdc2 genes suggest
different mechanisms of cell-cycle induction for roots and stems. In
addition to a detailed analysis of root-growth induction and
regulation, our work also provides the basis to identify
as-yet-unrecognized genes involved in regulating or sustaining growth
of adventitious root primordia in rice. These genes will be described
elsewhere.
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MATERIALS AND METHODS |
Plant Material and Incubation Conditions
Seeds of deepwater rice (Oryza sativa L. cv Pin Gaew
56) were obtained from the International Rice Research Institute (Los Baños, The Philippines). Plants were grown essentially as
described previously (Sauter, 1997 ) for 12 to 14 weeks. Whole plants
were submerged in 600-L plastic tanks filled with tap water at 25°C with approximately 30 cm of the leaf tips remaining above water. Incubation was in an environmental growth chamber under continuous light (200 µE m 2 s 1).
Control plants were kept in the same growth chamber. Isolated stem
sections were used for the analysis of hormonal and inhibitor effects
on adventitious root growth at the third node. The sections were cut
from 2 cm below the third-highest node extending upward, with a total
length of 20 cm. The sections contained the third and second nodes and
the second-youngest internode between them. The sections were incubated
in 150-mL beakers containing 25 mL of an aqueous solution of the
appropriate hormones: IAA, GA3, 6-BA, hormone
precursors, ethephon (2-chlorethanephosphoric acid), or ACC at the
concentrations indicated.
The beakers with the stem sections were placed in plastic cylinders to
ensure high humidity. Incubation was at 25°C under continuous light.
An inhibitor of ethylene action, NBD (bicyclo[2.2.1]hepta-2,5-diene), was added to yield 50 µL/L in the gas phase. For submergence of excised stem sections, a 2-L glass cylinder was filled with distilled water and the stem sections were completely submerged. Growth of root
initials was scored when the root had emerged through the epidermis of
the node. Root growth is given as the percentage of roots emerged
compared with the total number of root initials present. To determine
length, roots were isolated from the node and photographed through
binoculars. The photographed roots were then measured with a ruler and
length was calculated to scale.
Flow-Cytometric Analysis
Roots were isolated from the third node and the nuclei were
released according to the method of Sgorbati et al. (1986) with modifications. Roots were fixed in ice-cold 4% (v/v) formaldehyde in
Tris buffer (10 mM Tris-HCl, 10 mM EDTA, 100 mM NaCl, pH 7.4, 0.1% [v/v] Triton X-100) for 15 min,
and then washed twice for 10 min each in Tris buffer. The nuclei were
isolated by crushing the roots with a glass rod in 500 µL of buffer.
After the addition of 1 mL of DNA-staining solution (Partec,
Münster, Germany) containing the fluorescent dye
4 ,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole, the nuclei were filtered through a
22-µm nylon mesh and incubated for 60 min at room temperature. The
stained nuclei were subjected to flow-cytometric analysis as described
previously (Sauter, 1997 ). At least 10,000 nuclei were measured per
time point.
Northern-Blot Analysis
Total RNA was isolated from excised roots with the TRIzol reagent
(GIBCO-BRL) according to the manufacturer's instructions. In addition,
RNA was precipitated with 4 M LiCl as described previously (Puissant and Houdebine, 1990 ). RNA separation, northern-blot hybridization, and quantification of relative mRNA abundance were carried out as described previously (Sauter, 1997 ; Lorbiecke and Sauter, 1998 ).
Estimation of Relative Transcript Levels of
cycB2;2 with RT-PCR
RT-PCR was performed according to the method of Sauter et al.
(1995) with modifications. Total RNA was isolated from 2-mm nodal
sections as described above. First-strand cDNA synthesis was performed
using 100 ng of DNase I-treated total RNA in a final volume of 10 µL
with 2.5 µM of a primer specific for the 3 end of
cycB2;2 (5 -GCAAATTGCATGTGCCACA-3 ), 100 µM deoxyribonucleotide triphosphate, 20 units
of RNA-Guard (Pharmacia), 50 mM Tris-HCl, pH 8.3, 75 mM KCl, 3 mM
MgCl2, 10 mM DTT, and 40 units of reverse transcriptase (SuperScript RNase
H , GIBCO-BRL). The reaction was carried out at
50°C for 75 min in a thermocycler. PCR reactions were performed in a
final volume of 50 µL, including the 10 µL from the RT reaction and
200 µM deoxyribonucleotide triphosphate, 0.5 µM of the 3 -specific primer (see above),
0.5 µM of a cycB2;2 5 -specific
primer (5 -GCTCAAGAGCGTGGCACTGT-3 ), 20 mM
Tris-HCl, pH 8.4, 50 mM KCl, 1.5 mM MgCl2, and 2.5 units of
Taq DNA polymerase (GIBCO-BRL).
After a first denaturation step of 1 min at 94°C, the reaction cycles
were: 1 min at 94°C, 2 min at 56°C, 2 min at 72°C, and a final 7 min at 72°C. The number of cycles was 35 for RNA from the first node,
25 for RNA from the second and third nodes, and 24 for RNA from the
fourth node. In each case, the signal intensities were between the
signals obtained from 50 or 200 ng of RNA (data not shown), and were
therefore considered to be in the linear range of PCR amplification.
PCRs with 100 ng of RNA but without RT were performed as a control for
DNA contamination (data not shown). To ensure that the transcribed
product was of the expected size, control assays with plasmid DNA
containing the cycB2;2 cDNA were also carried out. The
products were separated on a 2% (w/v) agarose gel, hybridized to a
digoxigenin-labeled cDNA probe, and visualized by chemiluminescence
according to the manufacturer's instructions (Boehringer Mannheim).
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RESULTS |
Time Course of Submergence-Induced Adventitious Root Growth
We analyzed submergence-induced growth of adventitious roots at
the third node of adult deepwater rice plants. Root growth set in
between 8 and 10 h after submergence (Fig.
1). The lag phase of 8 h for
induction of adventitious root growth was twice as long as the lag
phase for internodal growth, which was determined to be 4 h
(Rose-John and Kende, 1985 ; Lorbiecke and Sauter, 1998 ). At the end of
the experiment (after 18 h) the roots had approximately tripled in
length.

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| Figure 1.
Submergence-induced growth of adventitious roots.
Adventitious root lengths at the third node of intact plants were
measured at various times after submergence. Average root lengths
(±SE) were determined in two independent experiments from
isolated roots.
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Submergence and Ethylene Induce the Cell-Division Cycle with
Similar Kinetics
Induction of cell-division activity was analyzed in roots isolated
from the third node of intact, submerged plants or in roots isolated
from the third node of excised stem sections treated with ethephon. The
ethephon concentration giving maximal induction of root growth (150 µM) was used in this study (see Fig. 5A). At various
times after the onset of the growth-promoting treatment, flow-cytometric analysis was performed to measure the distribution of
cells in the G1, S, and G2 phases (Fig.
2A). Growth induction resulted in an
accumulation of cells first in the S phase and then in the G2 phase,
suggesting that a subpopulation of cells in the G1 phase was induced to
enter a new cell cycle in a synchronous manner.

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| Figure 5.
Growth of adventitious roots at the third node of
stem sections treated with ethephon as indicated for 24 h. A,
Effect of ethephon treatment at various concentrations compared with
untreated sections (control) or with sections submerged for the same
time (submerged). B, Effect of ethephon treatment in combination with
NBD, an inhibitor of ethylene action, at the concentrations indicated.
Controls were incubated without the addition of hormone or inhibitor.
Results are averages ± SE of at least seven stem
sections.
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| Figure 2.
Flow-cytometric analysis of adventitious roots at
the third node. A, Histogram showing the distribution of cells in the
G1 (large peak) and G2 (small peak) phases of the cell-division cycle
0, 6, 10, and 18 h after submergence. S-phase cells are
represented between the two gap-phase peaks. B, Relative number of
cells in the S ( ) and G2 ( ) phases in adventitious roots isolated
from plants submerged for the times indicated. C, Relative number of
cells in the S ( ) and G2 ( ) phases in adventitious roots isolated
from stem sections treated with 150 µM ethephon for the
times indicated.
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In submerged plants entry of activated cells into the S phase occurred
between 2 and 6 h after submergence, with an increase from 2% to
10.1% of S-phase cells compared with the total cell population (Fig.
2B). Entry of the induced cells into the G2 phase, with a 3-fold
increase in the G2-phase population, was measured between 4 and 8 h after submergence. In ethephon-treated, isolated stem sections,
induced cells accumulated in the S phase between 4 and 6 h of
ethephon treatment and in the G2 phase between 6 and 10 h after
induction (Fig. 2C). Therefore, both treatments induced cell-division
activity in adventitious roots in a similar manner with a similar time
course. As judged from the time between entry into the S phase and
entry into the G2 phase, the cells required approximately 2 h to
replicate their genome.
Submergence-Induced Cell-Division Activity Is Accompanied by
Root-Specific Sequential Induction of Cell-Cycle Regulatory Genes
We previously analyzed the regulation by GA of cell division in
the intercalary meristem of deepwater rice internodes (Sauter et al.,
1995 ; Lorbiecke and Sauter, 1998 ), so we were interested in determining
whether cell-cycle induction in adventitious roots by ethylene would
require activation of the same genes that we found to be involved in
the intercalary meristem. In this region, growth induction by GA was
accompanied by increased expression of the CAK homolog R2, of one of
the two known cdc2 genes from rice, cdc2Os-2, and
of two mitotic B2-type cyclin genes, cycB2;1 (formerly
cycOs1) and cycB2;2 (formerly
cycOs2; Renaudin et al., 1996 ). Northern-blot
analysis of these genes was performed on RNA obtained from adventitious
roots isolated from plants after various times of submergence (Fig.
3). The same blot was also hybridized to
a probe from a newly identified A-type cyclin, cycA1;3, to a
histone H3 probe as a molecular marker for the S phase, and to HvPA-42
as a loading control (Sauter, 1997 ).

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| Figure 3.
Northern blots of adventitious roots at the third
node of intact plants submerged for the times indicated. The same blot
with 20 µg of RNA per lane was successively hybridized to
gene-specific probes to determine expression of the CAK homolog R2, of
two cdc2 genes, cdc2OS-1 and
cdc2Os-2, of three mitotic cyclin genes,
cycA1;3, cycB2;1, and
cycB2;2, and of a histone H3 gene. Expression of HvPA-42
was used as a loading control. Expression of cycA1;3 was
detected with a phosphor imager.
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The northern blots (Fig. 3) and the quantified results obtained from
them (Fig. 4) indicated that all of the
genes analyzed, including cdc2Os-1, were induced by the
growth-promoting treatment in roots, albeit at different times after
the onset of that treatment. Within 2 h of submergence, while
cells were still in the G1 phase, expression of the CAK gene homolog R2
increased. Two to four hours later, histone transcripts accumulated and
cells began DNA synthesis (Fig. 2B). At about the same time, the levels
of mRNA in cdc2Os-1 and cdc2Os-2 increased, with
maximal expression levels after 8 h of submergence coinciding more
or less with the S phase (Figs. 2B, 3, and 4).

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| Figure 4.
Expression levels of cell-cycle genes in
adventitious roots at the third node of intact plants submerged for the
times indicated. Results were obtained by quantifying the northern-blot
data shown in Figure 3. mRNA levels at time 0 were arbitrarily set to
1; all other values were calculated as multiples of that and were
corrected for loading differences using HvPA-42 as a control.
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Transcripts of the A-type cyclin cycA1;3 accumulated in the
roots of S-phase cells, clearly preceding the increase in the G2-phase
population (Fig. 2B) or transcript accumulation of the mitotic B-type
cyclins cycB2;1 and cycB2;2, which reached their highest levels 10 h after submergence (Figs. 3 and 4). A similar G2-phase-related expression pattern for these B-type cyclins was shown
previously in partially synchronized suspension cells (Sauter, 1997 )
and in meristematic cells from the internode of rice (Sauter et
al., 1995 ; Lorbiecke and Sauter, 1998 ). This finding agrees well with a
predicted function of the gene products in regulating the onset of
mitosis. Based on our expression data in planta, the A-type cyclin is
likely to function earlier in the cell cycle, possibly at the
transition from the S to the G2 phase.
Adventitious Root Growth Is Induced by Submergence or Ethylene, but
Not by Added Auxin, Cytokinin, or GA
It has been determined that the growth of adventitious roots of
deepwater rice can be induced by submergence or by treatment with
ethylene (Vergara et al., 1976 ; Suge, 1985 ; Bleecker et al., 1986 , 1987 ). We verified these results and extended them to test the effects of other plant hormones and of NBD, an inhibitor of ethylene action. These experiments were carried out with excised stem
sections. We used either ethephon or ACC as precursors for ethylene
evolution. Ethephon in the presence of water and at a pH greater than
3.5 releases ethylene. ACC is the direct natural precursor of ethylene
and is converted to ethylene by endogenous ACC oxidase activity. At
optimal concentrations both compounds induced root extension to a
degree comparable with that induced by submergence and that described
for direct ethylene application, suggesting that these precursors were
converted to ethylene without obvious side effects up to the optimal
concentrations (Figs. 5A and
6A).

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| Figure 6.
Growth of adventitious roots at the third node of
stem sections treated for 24 h with a growth promoter or with a
growth promoter plus NBD, an inhibitor of ethylene action, at the
concentrations indicated. A, Effect of ACC; B, effect of IAA or IAA at
its optimal concentration of 100 µM with NBD at 50 µL/L; C, effect of 6-BA or 6-BA at its optimal concentration of 5 µM with NBD at 50 µL/L; and D, effect of
GA3 at the concentrations indicated. Controls were
incubated without the addition of hormone. Results are averages ± SE of at least seven stem sections per concentration.
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The optimal root-growth-promoting concentration of ethephon was 150 µM, with both lower and higher concentrations leading to
fewer roots emerging. None of the other hormones tested gave comparable
root growth at any concentration (Fig. 6, B-D). IAA, the most common
naturally occurring auxin, induced growth by about 20% in all root
initials at its most effective concentration of 100 µM,
far less then what was observed with submergence or ethylene treatment
(Fig. 6B). These roots were also shorter than those of plants treated
with ethylene (data not shown). Application of IAA to the hollow
interior cylinder of the internode to allow uptake through the inner,
thin epidermis to ensure basipetal transport to the node below also had
no increased effect on root induction (data not shown).
The cytokinin 6-BA was less effective than IAA at inducing root growth,
with 15% induction at its most effective concentration (Fig. 6C), and
GA3 had no significant effect at all on root
growth (Fig. 6D). Using the same rice cultivar, Pin Gaew 56, Suge
(1985) demonstrated that a combination of 10 ppm ethylene and 0.3 µM GA3, each at suboptimal
concentrations, had a synergistic effect on the number of adventitious
roots formed per node and on the length of the roots that developed. We
were not able to repeat these results (Fig.
7); using a suboptimal ethephon
concentration of 15 nM and increasing concentrations of
GA3, we did not detect any root induction beyond
that seen with ethephon alone (Fig. 7).

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| Figure 7.
Growth of adventitious roots at the third node of
stem sections treated for 24 h with a suboptimal concentration of
ethephon (15 nM) and increasing concentrations of
GA3.
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Ethylene Action Is Necessary for Adventitious Root Growth
Auxin and cytokinin have been shown to induce ethylene formation
(Mattoo and White, 1991 , and refs. therein). To determine whether the
minor induction of root growth by auxin and cytokinin was a direct
result of auxin or cytokinin action, or if it was a result of auxin- or
cytokinin-induced ethylene formation and was therefore an effect of
ethylene action, we used NBD as an inhibitor of ethylene action
together with the growth-promoting hormone. Growth of roots was induced
by applying ethephon, IAA, or 6-BA at their optimal concentrations
(Figs. 5 and 6, B and C). When NBD was added with each hormone, growth
induction was fully inhibited (Figs. 5B and 6, B and C). The
effective concentration of NBD in inhibiting growth was 50 µL/L.
Ethylene Action Is Necessary for Mitotic Cyclin Induction
We analyzed mitotic cyclin gene expression as a molecular marker
for cell-division activity using RT-PCR. Mitotic cyclins have been
shown to be expressed only when needed, i.e. in dividing cells. For our
assays we isolated RNA from tissue sections containing the root
initials (Fig. 8). To ensure that we
measured gene expression in the roots and not in the surrounding nodal
tissue, we cut similar sections above and below the roots and included
them in our preliminary assays (Fig. 8A). These controls showed that
cycB2;2 gene expression and especially induction of gene
expression was limited to the tissue section at 2 to 4 mm of the third
node that contained adventitious roots. Induction of root growth with
ethephon resulted in increased expression of cycB2;2, as
already shown by northern-blot analysis (Figs. 3, 4, and 8B). This
induction was completely inhibited when NBD was added together with
ethephon. IAA, which induced some adventitious root growth (Fig. 6B),
also induced some cycB2;2 expression, but, as with root
growth, much less than ethylene did (Fig. 8B). The ethylene inhibitor
NBD added together with IAA resulted in complete inhibition of
IAA-induced cyclin gene expression. Our results suggest that IAA
induces cell division and root growth through ethylene action.

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| Figure 8.
Gene expression of the mitotic cyclin
cycB2;2 in adventitious roots at the third node as
determined with RT-PCR. A, Gene expression in three consecutive tissue
sections 2 mm in width as measured in plants submerged for the times
indicated. This control experiment showed that significant
cycB2;2 expression and induction was limited to the
tissue section containing the roots. The time course of transcript
accumulation was comparable to that found using northern-blot analysis
(Figs. 3 and 4). B, Gene expression in the middle, root-containing
tissue as a result of treatment for 12 h with ethephon, IAA, or
NBD in combination with ethephon or IAA at the concentrations
indicated. As a control (c), PCR was performed using the plasmid
containing the cycB2;2 cDNA as a template source.
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Root Primordia Are Responsive to Ethylene at an Early Developmental
Stage
When deepwater rice plants are 12 to 14 weeks old, they have
usually developed four nodes. Adventitious roots develop very early
during node formation, and root initials can therefore already be found
in the youngest or first node of the stem (Fig.
9). Development and growth of the root
initials then continue, with plant development resulting in larger root
initials in the oldest node. However, during normal development the
roots will remain under the epidermal layer of the node, and outgrowth
of the root will not commence until a proper signal is perceived (Fig.
9). To determine whether root growth depends not only on an inductive
signal, but also on a proper developmental stage, we looked at root
growth and induction of cycOs2 expression as a molecular
marker for cell-division activity in all four nodes of
submergence-induced rice plants.
Root growth was visibly induced within 10 h at all nodes except
the youngest. The difference in root length was most likely attributable to the fact that the size of the root primordia at the
onset of growth differs considerably depending on age. Nonetheless, at
the molecular level, the time course of cyclin gene induction was very
similar at the second, third, and fourth nodes, irrespective of the
difference in size or age of the root primordia (Fig.
10). Gene induction at the youngest
node was not as strong (Fig. 10). Overall transcript levels were low in
this tissue, and 35 cycles were used in PCR for RNA from the first
node, whereas 25 and 24 cycles were sufficient for the second and third
nodes and the fourth node, respectively. However, higher transcript
levels were observed after 6 h of submergence in the youngest
node. Even though the degree of induction seems to be lower, the
kinetics of gene induction were comparable with those of the older
nodes.

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| Figure 10.
Expression of cycB2;2 as
determined with RT-PCR at the first, second, third, and fourth nodes of
deepwater rice plants submerged for the times indicated.
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As a control we compared our RT-PCR results from the third node with
our northern-blot analysis results from the same node (Fig. 3), and
found that the time course of cycB2;2 gene induction was
very similar. We can conclude, therefore, that ethylene as the
growth-promoting hormonal signal acts in a systemic fashion on all
nodes of the rice stem, and that adventitious root initials are
responsive to the hormone from a very early developmental stage.
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DISCUSSION |
Growth of adventitious roots in deepwater rice is induced by
ethylene (Suge, 1985 ; Bleecker et al., 1987 ). When plants are submerged, the ethylene concentration increases (Métraux and Kende; 1983; Stünzi and Kende, 1989 ), leading to growth induction of root primordia. In the present study the addition of auxin, cytokinin, or GA did not result in significant root growth. At a
suboptimal concentration of ethylene, GA did not enhance growth in a
synergistic manner, as was previously shown by Suge (1985) for the same
rice cultivar. It has been suggested that GA plays a role in
determining the shape of root cells (Barlow et al., 1991 ; Traas et al.,
1995 ; Tadeo et al., 1997 ). We cannot exclude that GA is required at a
basal level in the tissue for proper root-cell development; however,
the addition of GA by itself or in combination with ethylene did not
induce root growth.
Auxin is the major growth-promoting hormone for the initiation of
lateral and adventitious root growth. It induces cells in the pericycle
and parenchyma to dedifferentiate and enter initial cell divisions.
Formation of the root primordium itself is no longer dependent on auxin
(Celenza et al., 1995 ; De Klerk et al., 1995 ; Pelosi et al., 1995 ).
Initiation of adventitious root primordia in deepwater rice is part of
the normal developmental program. The involvement of auxin at this step
has not been analyzed. Our results show that auxin is ineffective in
inducing growth of the mature root primordium. What little growth
occurs after auxin treatment most likely results from auxin-induced
ethylene synthesis, as suggested by the fact that it can be blocked by
NBD, an inhibitor of ethylene action. The inhibitory effect of NBD can
be observed not only at the physiological level, but also at the
molecular level. Auxin-induced cyclin expression was also suppressed by the addition of NBD. Regulation of ethylene biosynthesis by IAA is a
well-known phenomenon that has been studied in some detail (Peck and
Kende, 1995 ). Treatment with the IAA-transport-inhibitor NPA did not
inhibit ethylene-induced adventitious root growth (data not shown),
supporting our conclusion that ethylene is the crucial growth-promoting
hormone.
The minor root induction observed after cytokinin application also may
have been a result of cytokinin-induced ethylene formation, as is most
likely the case for auxin. Cytokinin-induced root growth was abolished
in the presence of NBD. Therefore, the growth of the root primordia and
the emergence of the node through the cuticle were dependent on and
mediated by ethylene action.
When deepwater rice plants are submerged, the apical meristems in
adventitious root primordia are activated before cell growth sets in.
Between 4 and 6 h after submergence a subpopulation of cells in
the G1 phase duplicate their genome in a synchronous manner and then
move to the G2 phase, entering mitosis probably around 10 h after
submergence. It is unlikely that the subpopulation of cells induced by
ethylene is in a true resting state (G0), because the time needed for
cell-cycle induction by submergence in roots is about the same as in
the intercalary meristem of the internode, where cells are known to
divide continually but are induced to divide faster upon submergence
(Lorbiecke and Sauter, 1998 ).
All cell-cycle regulators analyzed are induced during cell-cycle
activation, albeit in some cases only to a minor degree. Induction of
the cdc2Os-1 and cdc2Os-2 genes occurs too late
(in the S phase) to contribute to the initial meristem activation. This
is in contrast to what happens in the intercalary meristem of the
internode, where increased expression of the cdc2Os-2 gene is a very early, G1-phase-specific event possibly responsible for the
G1- to S-phase induction. In roots only transcriptional activation of
the R2 gene, which, based on sequence homology, is a putative CAK,
could possibly play a role in regulating the G1 to S checkpoint. If so,
regulation at the protein level through an activating
phosphorylation of a G1-specific cyclin-dependent kinase may be
important in driving cells into the S phase in the root apical
meristem.
The A-type cyclin gene is expressed at higher levels during the S phase
and the early G2 phase, clearly before the B-type cyclins. This
expression pattern is in agreement with the proposed function of A-type
cyclins in regulating S-/G2-phase progression. The B-type cyclins
accumulate in the G2 phase and reach maximal transcript levels in the
late G2 and M phases. These results coincide with our previous findings
from suspension-cultured cells (Sauter, 1997 ) and from meristematic
cells of the internode (Sauter et al., 1995 ; Lorbiecke and Sauter,
1998 ), and suggest that cycB2;1 and cycB2;2 are
universal mitotic regulators in rice without tissue specificity.
When we compared cell-cycle induction in the internode with that in
adventitious roots, we found great similarities with respect to the
time course of induction and the cell-cycle regulatory genes involved.
The only obvious difference was with respect to the cdc2
genes, both of which were induced in roots during the S phase, whereas
only cdc2Os-2 was regulated in the internode where
transcripts accumulated in the G1 phase, as was also found in partially
synchronized suspension-cultured cells. The two meristems are triggered
by two different hormonal signals: by GA in the internode and by
ethylene in the root. In the internode ethylene is perceived but is not
directly responsible for cell-cycle induction; rather, it acts on the
homeostasis of two other plant hormones, ABA and GA. GA finally
activates the cell cycle. In adventitious roots ethylene is the
hormonal signal that leads directly to meristem activation. Therefore,
specific transductory pathways must exist in the two organs with
respect to the ethylene response. The pathway that is established in
the internode leads to a decline in ABA and an increase in GA, whereas
the pathway established in adventitious root initials results directly
in growth induction. We are currently in the process of identifying
components of signal transduction that are involved in only one of
these pathways.
 |
FOOTNOTES |
1
This work was supported by grants from the
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, the Arthur und Aenne Feindt-Stiftung,
and the Graduiertenkolleg Biotechnologie at the University of Hamburg and at the Technical University Hamburg-Harburg (to R.L.).
*
Corresponding author; e-mail msauter{at}botanik.unihamburg.de; fax
49-40-82282-229.
Received July 22, 1998;
accepted October 3, 1998.
 |
ABBREVIATIONS |
Abbreviations:
CAK, cdc2-activating kinase.
NBD, 2,5-norbornadiene.
RT, reverse transcription.
 |
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
This publication is based on a doctoral study by R.L. at the
Faculty of Biology, University of Hamburg. The authors thank H. Mergemann for help with root-growth analysis. We are further indebted
to Drs. E. van der Knaap and H. Kende (Michigan State University-Department of Energy Plant Research Laboratory, East Lansing) for providing the histone H3 PCR clone 9B; to Drs. S. Quast
and K. Krupinska (Botanisches Institut, Universität Kiel, Germany) for providing the HvPA-42 cDNA; and to Drs. S. Hata and J. Hashimoto (National Institute of Agrobiological Resources, Ibaraki,
Japan) for supplying the R2, cdc2Os-1, and
cdc2Os-2 cDNAs.
 |
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