Improved mathematical model for estimating H+ influx and H+ efflux in plant vacuolar vesicles acidified by ATPase or pyrophosphatase

A computational model of auxin and pH dynamics in a single plant cell

Directed cell-to-cell movement of the plant growth hormone auxin is often referred to as polar auxin transport, and has gained much interest since its discovery at the beginning of the 20th century, both by biologists and theoreticians. Computational modelling of auxin transport at tissue and whole plant scales has given valuable insights into the feedback dynamics between auxin and its transport, which often leads to cell polarisation. However, one cellular feedback mechanism that has been overlooked so far in previous models is the interplay between auxin and pH during auxin transport, even though this is well known from biology. We propose a kinetic model of such a feedback mechanism, linking knowledge about auxin-induced acidification of cell wall compartments to the chemiosmotic hypothesis of auxin transport. Our results suggest that proton fluxes may play a significant role in auxin transport. Since active auxin transport relies on the proton motive force over the cellular membrane, allocation of auxin is linked to its effects on compartmental pH. Our auxin/pH feedback model predicts enhanced accumulation of auxin in cells and increases in both auxin influx and efflux when this feedback is in effect. These results were robust in all simulations and consistent with biological evidence, thus providing a framework for generating and testing hypotheses of auxin-related polarisation events at a cellular level.

Chilling induces a decrease in pyrophosphate-dependent H+-accumulation associated with a DeltapH(vac)-stat in mung bean, a chill-sensitive plant

Chilling leads to cytoplasmic acidification in chill-sensitive plants. A possible explanation for this observation is that a DeltapH-stat between the cytosol and vacuole (DeltapH(vac)-stat) is perturbed by chilling. To understand the nature of this DeltapH(vac)-stat, the effect of temperature, between 20 and 0 degrees C, on pyrophosphate (PPi)- or ATP-dependent acidification of vacuolar vesicles, isolated from mung bean hypocotyls, was determined. Over the temperature range investigated, the H+-influx mediated by PPase was balanced with the H+-efflux, which was PPi-dependently suppressed, and consequently a constant pH in vesicles (pH(in)) of ca. 5 was maintained against temperature changes. However, the DeltapH(in) driven by ATP decreased as the temperature dropped. Thus, the PPi-dependent H+-accumulation may function as an essential factor to form a DeltapH(vac)-stat against temperature changes. Next, to study the chilling sensitivity of PPi-dependent H+-accumulation, vacuolar vesicles were isolated from control seedlings or from seedlings chilled at 0 degrees C for 1 d. Chilling treatment resulted in a decrease in the H+-accumulation rate and in the steady-state DeltapH(in) formed by PPi, the causes of which were enhanced by PPi-dependent H+-efflux and reduced by H+-influx driven by PPase. Together, the results suggest that the decrease of PPi-dependent H+-accumulation associated with the DeltapH(vac)-stat could result in cytoplasmic acidification.