Signal transduction and specificity of peptide ligand-receptor pairs specifying plant growth

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26291057
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Partial Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Plant molecular biology/Plant physiology
• Research Institution: Nagoya University
• Principal Investigator: TORII KEIKO 名古屋大学, トランスフォーマティブ生命分子研究所, 客員教授 (60506103)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): Naoyuki Uchida 名古屋大学, トランスフォーマティブ生命分子研究所, 特任准教授 (40467692)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 植物 / 発生分化 / ペプチドホルモン / 受容体キナーゼ / シグナル伝達 / シロイヌナズナ

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This proposal aims at understanding the mechanism of signal discrimination and further unraveling the function of orphan EPFL peptides during Arabidopsis development. Using the promoter swapping approach, we learned that the sub-family of EPF/EPFL peptides have shared and specific activities. We further revealed that EPFL2-ERECTA-family ligand-receptor pair is required for leaf margin morphogenesis. Furthermore, we demonstrated that a negative feedback circuitry between auxin and EPFL2 signaling promotes leaf teeth growth by maintaining the auxin maxima throughout the dynamic process of leaf expansion. During secondary growth, ERECTA-family ensure the timing of wood tissue expansion, a process mediated by GA. Our work reveals that EPF/EPFL-ERECTA-family ligand-receptor pairs control specific developmental programs through interaction with phytohormones, and that restricted expression of peptide ligands in part contribute to signal specificity.

Free Research Field

植物発生遺伝学