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First published online April 17, 2003; 10.1104/pp.018853 Plant Physiology 132:805-810 (2003) © 2003 American Society of Plant Biologists Hydrotropism Interacts with Gravitropism by Degrading Amyloplasts in Seedling Roots of Arabidopsis and Radish1Graduate School of Life Sciences, Tohoku University, 211 Katahira, Aoba-ku, Sendai 9808577, Japan
In response to a moisture gradient, roots exhibit hydrotropism to control the orientation of their growth. To exhibit hydrotropism, however, they must overcome the gravitropism that is dominant on Earth. We found that moisture gradient or water stress caused immediate degradation of the starch anchors, amyloplasts, in root columella cells of Arabidopsis and radish (Raphanus sativus). Namely, development of hydrotropic response was accompanied by a simultaneous reduction in starch content in columella cells. Rapid degradation of amyloplasts in columella cells also occurred in the water-stressed roots with sorbitol or mannitol. Both hydrotropically stimulated and water-stressed roots showed a reduced responsiveness to gravity. Roots of a starchless mutant, pgm1-1, showed an enhanced hydrotropism compared with that of the wild type. These results suggest that the reduced responsiveness to gravity is, at least in part, attributable to the degradation of amyloplasts in columella cells. Thus, the reduction in gravitropism allows the roots to exhibit hydrotropism.
Terrestrial plants develop their root systems in soil to avoid stressful environments such as drought, extreme temperature, and nutrient deficiency, and to establish their stand. Tropistic responses have an important role in developing the root system. Primary roots dominantly display gravitropism, growing down in response to gravity. The columella cells of the root cap have long been considered to act as a sensory apparatus involved in inducing the gravitropic response because they include amyloplasts that contain dense starch grains and sediment to the floor of the cells upon reorientation of the roots (Wilkins, 1984
Roots of agravitropic mutant or of clinorotated seedlings enabled us to separate hydrotropism from gravitropism, suggesting that gravitropism interferes with hydrotropism in peas (Pisum sativum) and cucumber (Cucumis sativus; Jaffe et al., 1985
We developed an experimental system to induce hydrotropism in seedling roots of Arabidopsis and found that the roots showed a remarkable hydrotropic response by overcoming gravitropism (Takahashi et al., 2002
Sorbitol-induced water stress also produced a dramatic decrease in amyloplasts in Arabidopsis root cap cells (Fig. 2, A and B). When treated with 1.0 MPa sorbitol, the amount of amyloplasts decreased by one-half within 30 min and to less than 20% of the initial level 1 to 2 h after the start of water stress (Fig. 2A). Water stress with 0.5 to 1.0 MPa sorbitol for 2 h caused a substantial decrease in amyloplasts in the root cap (Fig. 2B). When Arabidopsis roots were treated with different sugars, all sugars (sorbitol, Glc, Fru, mannitol, maltose, and Suc) used at 0.4 M caused a decrease in starch content, although sorbitol and mannitol were most effective (Fig. 3). There was a slight reduction of starch in the distilled water-treated roots, but it was notable that Suc at low concentration (0.015 M) prevented the reduction of starch in the root cap (Fig. 3). Root columella cells may use Suc for synthesis or maintenance of starch unless it is present at high concentration. At present, we do not know why water stress results in degradation of amyloplasts in columella cells. However, degradation of the starch amyloplast could occur as an adaptive response to water stress by supplying an osmoregulating component. Also, the root system could eventually adapt to drought conditions and restore amyloplasts in the root caps.
Arabidopsis roots that lost amyloplasts due to stimulation by a moisture gradient exhibited a reduced gravitropic response (Fig. 4A). The responsiveness of the hydrostimulated roots to gravity was similar to that of the starchless mutant, pgm1-1. Also, we compared the kinetics of gravitropism of the sorbitol-treated roots and that of the control by recording curvature development every 10 min. We found that curvatures 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, and 60 min after gravistimulation were 3.9°, 16.6°, 30.3°, 39.4°, 48.8°, and 51.1°, respectively, in the control and 1.6°, 3.8°, 8.0°, 11.7°, 14.4°, and 20.7°, respectively, in the sorbitol-treated roots. A time course study for hydrotropic response of pgm1-1 roots revealed that the starchless roots showed a greater responsiveness to moisture gradient for the induction of hydrotropism compared with that of the wild type (Fig. 4B). The pronounced responsiveness of pgm1-1 roots to moisture gradient was evident at an early stage of the response, although degrees of curvature ultimately became similar to that of the wild type.
The results mentioned above demonstrate that the reduced gravitropism of Arabidopsis roots is, at least in part, attributable to the loss of amyloplasts, which occurs in response to moisture gradients or water stress. Recently, Wolverton et al. (2002 Using the same system as in hydrotropism of Arabidopsis roots, we found that radish (Raphanus sativus) roots also responded hydrotropically to moisture gradient by overcoming gravitropism (Fig. 5). That is, the roots in a vertical position bent sideways toward the higher moisture. Hydrotropic curvature in radish roots commenced as early as in Arabidopsis roots, although the ultimate responsiveness was weaker than that of Arabidopsis roots (Fig. 5).
To observe the columella cells of the hydrotropically responding roots by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), we used radish roots because, compared with Arabidopsis roots, it was much easier to divide radish root tip specimens into halves. Figure 6 shows the scanning electron micrographs of the columella cells of the radish roots that are hydrotropically responding to a gradient of moisture. In the control roots, amyloplasts are normal, and they sediment to the floor of the columella cells (Fig. 6, A and B). On the other hand, digestion of amyloplasts is obvious 2 h after exposure to the moisture gradient (Fig. 6, C and D). After 5 h, the amount of amyloplasts was severely reduced, and the dense cytoplasm had become colloidal (Fig. 6, E and F). When roots were released from water stress by reaching the agar medium due to hydrotropic response, the initial level of amyloplasts and the normal structural conformation were restored in the columella cells. As in the Arabidopsis roots, the radish roots exposed to water stress showed a severe reduction in the gravitropic response without substantial reduction in elongation growth (Fig. 7). It is interesting that the water-stressed roots showed even greater hydrotropic response (Fig. 7).
Thus, roots are highly responsive to moisture gradient, exhibiting hydrotropism, if gravitropism is reduced. Water stress that causes degradation of the gravisensor, amyloplasts, in the columella cells could partly be responsible for reducing gravisensitivity and thereby displaying hydrotropism. These findings are the first to our knowledge to show that columella cells are highly susceptible to moisture gradient that cause immediate degradation of amyloplasts. How this tropistic stimulus causes the degradation of amyloplasts remains to be clarified, but the phenomenon is an important clue to understanding the root sensory mechanism that functions for integrating multiple stimuli in the root cap cells. Systemic water stress and moisture gradients result in the degradation of amyloplasts (Figs. 1, 2, 3). Thus, there might be two independent mechanisms: one for the perception of moisture gradients for hydrotropism and the other for the perception of water stress for starch degradation. These two events might occur simultaneously in the columella cells of the hydrotropically stimulated roots. Alternatively, the water stress-induced degradation of starch could be the first step for the perception of the moisture gradient. However, this is unlikely because a starchless mutant, pgm1-1, shows hydrotropic response even greater than the wild type (Fig. 4). In conclusion, Arabidopsis and radish roots are hydrotropically highly sensitive because in response to a moisture gradient, they reduce gravitropism by degrading amyloplasts in columella cells. Although elongation and bending responses of all root tropisms occur at the elongation zone proximal to the root cap, our findings imply that columella cells in the root cap are able to differentiate each response from the complex network of tropisms and display a suitable growth response depending upon their environmental circumstances.
Plant Materials and Growth Conditions Seeds of Arabidopsis, Columbia ecotype, or radish (Raphanus sativus L. cv White Icicle) were sterilized with 5% (v/v) sodium hypochlorite containing 0.05% (v/v) Tween 20 for 12 min, washed with distilled water, and sown on a 0.2% (w/v) Gellan Gum (Sigma, St. Louis) containing 0.4% (w/v) Murashige and Skoog Salt Mixture (GIBCO BRL, Grand Island, NY), 0.2% (w/v) Murashige and Skoog vitamin (GIBCO BRL), and 2% (w/v) Suc in a plastic container (10 x 14 x 1.5 cm). They were placed at 4°C in the dark for 48 h. For germination, the plastic plate was placed in a vertical position so that seedlings grew straight on the surface of the medium. The plates were then incubated at 23°C under a 24-h photoperiod for 96 h. Seedlings with relatively straight roots, 1.0 to 1.5 cm in length, were used for experiments.
Roots were hydrotropically stimulated according to the method of Takahashi et al. (2002
To observe the amyloplasts in the columella cells of the root cap, seedlings were soaked in a fixative (5% [v/v] formaldehyde, 5% [v/v] acetic acid, and 45% [v/v] ethanol) at 4°C for 48 h. The fixed seedlings were stained with I2-KI solution (0.15% [w/v] I2 and 0.45% [w/v] KI) for 5 min. Then, the root tips were observed under a light microscope (BX50F, Olympus, Tokyo), and the amount of amyloplasts was determined by measuring the area of the stained amyloplasts using a computer-assisted image analysis with the software Mac Scope version 2.5 (Mitani Co., Fukui-ken, Japan). For this measurement, averaged density of the stained amyloplasts of the control was calculated and adopted as a threshold of gray scale so that the areas of only objects denser than the threshold were extracted and summed.
Amyloplasts and columella cells were observed with low-vacuum SEM (JSM-5800LV, JEOL Ltd., Tokyo). A freeze substitution method suitable for observation of organelles such as amyloplasts was used for fixation and dehydration of the materials (Robards and Sleytr, 1985
We thank Dr. Nobuharu Goto (Miyagi College of Education, Sendai, Japan) for providing us with pgm1-1Arabidopsis seeds. We also thank Dr. Kiyotaka Okada (Kyoto University) and Dr. Tadashi Hirasawa (Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology) for their critical reading of our manuscript and Dr. Nobuharu Fujii (Tohoku University, Japan) and Dr. Nori Kurata (National Institute of Genetics, Mishima, Japan) for their helpful discussion. Received December 9, 2002; returned for revision January 24, 2003; accepted February 6, 2003.
Article, publication date, and citation information can be found at www.plantphysiol.org/cgi/doi/10.1104/pp.102.018853.
1 This work was supported by the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports, Culture, and Technology of Japan (grant to H.T.), by the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (grant to H.T.), by the National Space Development Agency (grant to H.T.), and by the Japan Space Forum (grant to H.T.). This work was carried out as a part of the National Institute of Genetics Cooperative Research Program (grant no. 200054). * Corresponding author; e-mail hideyuki{at}ige.tohoku.ac.jp; fax 81227238218.
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