Plant adaptation to dynamically changing environment: the shade avoidance response

The success of competitive interactions between plants determines the chance of survival of individuals and eventually of whole plant species. Shade-tolerant plants have adapted their photosynthesis to function optimally under low-light conditions. These plants are therefore capable of long-term survival under a canopy shade. In contrast, shade-avoiding plants adapt their growth to perceive maximum sunlight and therefore rapidly dominate gaps in a canopy. Daylight contains roughly equal proportions of red and far-red light, but within vegetation that ratio is lowered as a result of red absorption by photosynthetic pigments. This light quality change is perceived through the phytochrome system as an unambiguous signal of the proximity of neighbors resulting in a suite of developmental responses (termed the shade avoidance response) that, when successful, result in the overgrowth of those neighbors. Shoot elongation induced by low red/far-red light may confer high relative fitness in natural dense communities. However, since elongation is often achieved at the expense of leaf and root growth, shade avoidance may lead to reduction in crop plant productivity. Over the past decade, major progresses have been achieved in the understanding of the molecular basis of shade avoidance. However, uncovering the mechanisms underpinning plant response and adaptation to changes in the ratio of red to far-red light is key to design new strategies to precise modulate shade avoidance in time and space without impairing the overall crop ability to compete for light.

Adventitious root formation in Arabidopsis thaliana thin cell layers

This paper describes, for the first time, de novo adventitious root formation from thin cell layers (TCLs) of Arabidopsis thaliana. The objective of the study was to determine the optimal hormonal and light conditions and the optimal exogenous Ca2+ concentration for obtaining adventitious rooting (AR) from A. thaliana TCLs and to identify the tissue(s) involved in the process. The results show that maximum AR was obtained with a single-phase method in the presence of 10 microM indole-3-butyric acid and 0.1 microM kinetin under continuous darkness for 30 days and with 0.6 mM exogenous CaCl2. The endodermis was the only tissue involved in root meristemoid formation. The role of Ca2+ in AR and the importance of using Arabidopsis TCLs in studies on the genetic/biochemical control of AR are discussed.

The arabidopsis ATHB-8 HD-zip protein acts as a differentiation-promoting transcription factor of the vascular meristems

ATHB-8, -9, -14, -15, and IFL1/REV are members of a small homeodomain-leucine zipper family whose genes are characterized by expression in the vascular tissue. ATHB-8, a gene positively regulated by auxin (Baima et al., 1995), is considered an early marker of the procambial cells and of the cambium during vascular regeneration after wounding. Here, we demonstrate that although the formation of the vascular system is not affected in athb8 mutants, ectopic expression of ATHB-8 in Arabidopsis plants increased the production of xylem tissue. In particular, a careful anatomical analysis of the transgenic plants indicated that the overexpression of ATHB-8 promotes vascular cell differentiation. First, the procambial cells differentiated precociously into primary xylem. In addition, interfascicular cells also differentiated precociously into fibers. Finally, the transition to secondary growth, mainly producing xylem, was anticipated in transgenic inflorescence stems compared with controls. The stimulation of primary and secondary vascular cell differentiation resulted in complex modifications of the growth and development of the ATHB-8 transgenic plants. Taken together, these results are consistent with the hypothesis that ATHB-8 is a positive regulator of proliferation and differentiation, and participates in a positive feedback loop in which auxin signaling induces the expression of ATHB-8, which in turn positively modulates the activity of procambial and cambial cells to differentiate.