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Two-component circuitry in Arabidopsis cytokinin signal transduction

Nature volume 413, pages 383–389 (2001)Cite this article

Abstract

Cytokinins are essential plant hormones that are involved in shoot meristem and leaf formation, cell division, chloroplast biogenesis and senescence. Although hybrid histidine protein kinases have been implicated in cytokinin perception in Arabidopsis, the action of histidine protein kinase receptors and the downstream signalling pathway has not been elucidated to date. Here we identify a eukaryotic two-component signalling circuit that initiates cytokinin signalling through distinct hybrid histidine protein kinase activities at the plasma membrane. Histidine phosphotransmitters act as signalling shuttles between the cytoplasm and nucleus in a cytokinin-dependent manner. The short signalling circuit reaches the nuclear target genes by enabling nuclear response regulators ARR1, ARR2 and ARR10 as transcription activators. The cytokinin-inducible ARR4, ARR5, ARR6 and ARR7 genes encode transcription repressors that mediate a negative feedback loop in cytokinin signalling. Ectopic expression in transgenic Arabidopsis of ARR2, the rate-limiting factor in the response to cytokinin, is sufficient to mimic cytokinin in promoting shoot meristem proliferation and leaf differentiation, and in delaying leaf senescence.

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Figure 1: Cytokinin signalling is initiated by multiple histidine protein kinase receptors.
Figure 2: AHP acts as a shuttle between the cytoplasm and nucleus in cytokinin signalling.
Figure 3: Opposite regulations of cytokinin primary response gene transcription by two types of ARR protein.
Figure 4: Ectopic expression of ARR2 is sufficient to promote cytokinin responses in transgenic tissues and plants.
Figure 5: Model of the cytokinin signal transduction pathway in Arabidopsis.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank T. Kakimoto for the CKI1 cDNA clone and communicating unpublished results; C. Xiang, K. Wang and D. J. Oliver for the mini-binary vectors; J. Callis for the UBQ10–GUS plasmid; E. Schaller for the ER–GFP construct; J. Elhai, W.-L. Chiu and H. Sze for helpful discussions on the manuscript; B. Moore for help with confocal microscopy; and G. Tena for Arabidopsis plants. This work is supported by NSF and NIH grants to J.S.

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  1. Department of Molecular Biology, Department of Genetics, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, 02114, Massachusetts, USA

    Ildoo Hwang & Jen Sheen

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  1. Ildoo Hwang
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Correspondence to Jen Sheen.

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Hwang, I., Sheen, J. Two-component circuitry in Arabidopsis cytokinin signal transduction. Nature 413, 383–389 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/35096500

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