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RETRACTED ARTICLE: Identification and role of adenylyl cyclase in auxin signalling in higher plants

Nature volume 390, pages 698–701 (1997)Cite this article

A Retraction to this article was published on 26 November 1998

Abstract

Cyclic AMP is an important signalling molecule in prokaryotes and eukaryotes1, but its significance in higher plants has been generally doubted2 because they have low adenylyl cyclase activity and barely detectable amounts of cAMP3. Here we used activation T-DNA tagging to create tobacco cell lines that can proliferate in the absence of the phytohormone auxin in the culture media4,5. The sequence tagged in one line, axi 141, was used to isolate a complementary DNA encoding adenylyl cyclase, the first from a higher plant. Sequence analysis reveals that the tobacco adenylyl cyclase is probably soluble, contains characteristic leucine-rich repeats, and bears similarity with adenylyl cyclase from the yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe. Expression of the cDNA in Escherichia coli results in an increase in endogenous cAMP levels, and in yeast its expression functionally complements the cry1 mutation. Tobacco protoplasts treated with cAMP, or the adenylyl cyclase activator forskolin, no longer require auxin to divide. This finding, together with the observation that the adenylyl cyclase inhibitor dideoxyadenosine inhibits cell proliferation in the presence of auxin, suggests that cAMP is involved in auxin-triggered cell division in higher plants.

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Figure 1: T-DNA organization and axi 141 expression.
Figure 2: Functional and sequence characterizationof axi 141.
Figure 3: Functional testing of axi 141.
Figure 4: Effect of cAMP on protoplast division.

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Acknowledgements

We thank T. Kataoka for the yeast strain T50-3A and pYEP24-CYRI, W. Schmalenbach for technical assistance, and R. Schmidt for conversations. T.I was supported by a Alexander van Humboldt postdoctoral fellowship. C.S is supported by a DFG studentship.

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  1. Yoshihito Suzuki

    Present address: Department of Applied Biology and Chemistry, University of Tokyo, 1-1-1 Yayoi, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113, Japan

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Max Planck Institut für Züchtungsforschung, Carl von Linné Weg 10, Köln, D-50829, Germany

    Takanari Ichikawa, Inge Czaja, Carla Schommer, Angela LeBnick, Jeff Schell & Richard Walden

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  1. Takanari Ichikawa
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  2. Yoshihito Suzuki
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Correspondence to Richard Walden.

Additional information

This article was retracted. Some of the results reported in this Letter cannot be reproduced. We know that the data on protoplast division described for Figs 1a, c, 2a, band 4, and the corresponding experimental procedures described in the Methods section and the text, are wrong. In fact, the data showing that cAMP can stimulate protoplast division in the absence of auxins are not correct. Hence, we need to retract this paper. We apologize for any misunderstanding that this might have caused. Note from the Editor: One author, R.W., although concerned with the accuracy of parts of this paper, reserves judgement concerning its retraction and awaits the outcome of further experimentation.

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Ichikawa, T., Suzuki, Y., Czaja, I. et al. RETRACTED ARTICLE: Identification and role of adenylyl cyclase in auxin signalling in higher plants. Nature 390, 698–701 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1038/37810

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