A search for novel functions in the auxin metabolic pathway

Auxins are one of the oldest phytohormones known to us, as studies on its physiological effects date back to the end of the nineteenth century. The cardinal auxin in plants is IAA, and attempts have been made to elucidate its biosynthesis and activity for over 70 years. IAA is known to be involved i...

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Autor principal: El Houari, Ilias
Formato: H2
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: SLU/Dept. of Forest Genetics and Plant Physiology 2016
Materias:
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author El Houari, Ilias
author_browse El Houari, Ilias
author_facet El Houari, Ilias
author_sort El Houari, Ilias
collection Epsilon Archive for Student Projects
description Auxins are one of the oldest phytohormones known to us, as studies on its physiological effects date back to the end of the nineteenth century. The cardinal auxin in plants is IAA, and attempts have been made to elucidate its biosynthesis and activity for over 70 years. IAA is known to be involved in a high multitude of developmental processes, and has a key role in many aspects of plant growth and development, such as root and shoot architecture, cell growth and division, response to environmental stimuli and stress response. Despite substantial progress made in the last two decades to understand the biosynthesis and catabolism of IAA, the metabolic pathways and regulatory mechanisms underlying its homeostasis in plant cells are still to be fully clarified. This master dissertation pursued to clear up existing problems and gaps associated with IAA metabolism, aiming to identify novel genes directly or indirectly involved in IAA homeostasis, and resolve regulatory mechanisms behind auxin conjugation and degradation. For this purpose, Arabidopsis mutant lines were generated by ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS) treatment of auxin reporter lines. These were screened for their auxin metabolic profile by high-throughput liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) profiling, and multivariate data analysis (MVDA) was used to identify candidate lines based on their diverging metabolic profiles from these in control lines. Selected lines were backcrossed and then analyzed by confocal imaging to study IAA distribution in the root tip. A mapping-by-sequencing approach was performed for one particular line, DII365.3, which was identified as showing high levels of indole-3-acetaldoxime (IAOx). Nine candidate genes were identified carrying homozygous non-synonymous substitutions in their coding sequences, and T-DNA insertion lines carrying a disruption in these genes were ordered in an attempt to obtain stable knockout lines. Complementation tests and IAA metabolite profiling of the lines were initiated in this work and, together with establishing the knockout nature of the insertions, will be determinant in identifying the causal mutation. Furthermore, to gain knowledge about regulatory mechanisms in the IAA conjugation/degradation pathways, different constructs were successfully generated carrying guide RNA (gRNA) sequences targeting members of the DIOXYGENASE FOR AUXIN OXIDATION (DAO) and UDP-glycosyl transferase (UGT) family of genes, by using a multiplex approach of the CRISPR-Cas9 technology. The different constructs were transformed into diverse Arabidopsis mutant backgrounds in order to faster and more efficiently generate different knockout combinations. Metabolic and transcriptional profiling of the lines generated here will be fundamental in modeling the regulation of the IAA inactivation pathways and their influence on IAA homeostasis.
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institution Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
language Inglés
publishDate 2016
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spelling RepoSLU97072016-10-28T08:48:06Z A search for novel functions in the auxin metabolic pathway El Houari, Ilias molecular biology plant physiology auxin phytohormones genetic screening ethyl methanesulfonate mapping-by-sequencing CRISPR/Cas9 confocal microscopy Auxins are one of the oldest phytohormones known to us, as studies on its physiological effects date back to the end of the nineteenth century. The cardinal auxin in plants is IAA, and attempts have been made to elucidate its biosynthesis and activity for over 70 years. IAA is known to be involved in a high multitude of developmental processes, and has a key role in many aspects of plant growth and development, such as root and shoot architecture, cell growth and division, response to environmental stimuli and stress response. Despite substantial progress made in the last two decades to understand the biosynthesis and catabolism of IAA, the metabolic pathways and regulatory mechanisms underlying its homeostasis in plant cells are still to be fully clarified. This master dissertation pursued to clear up existing problems and gaps associated with IAA metabolism, aiming to identify novel genes directly or indirectly involved in IAA homeostasis, and resolve regulatory mechanisms behind auxin conjugation and degradation. For this purpose, Arabidopsis mutant lines were generated by ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS) treatment of auxin reporter lines. These were screened for their auxin metabolic profile by high-throughput liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) profiling, and multivariate data analysis (MVDA) was used to identify candidate lines based on their diverging metabolic profiles from these in control lines. Selected lines were backcrossed and then analyzed by confocal imaging to study IAA distribution in the root tip. A mapping-by-sequencing approach was performed for one particular line, DII365.3, which was identified as showing high levels of indole-3-acetaldoxime (IAOx). Nine candidate genes were identified carrying homozygous non-synonymous substitutions in their coding sequences, and T-DNA insertion lines carrying a disruption in these genes were ordered in an attempt to obtain stable knockout lines. Complementation tests and IAA metabolite profiling of the lines were initiated in this work and, together with establishing the knockout nature of the insertions, will be determinant in identifying the causal mutation. Furthermore, to gain knowledge about regulatory mechanisms in the IAA conjugation/degradation pathways, different constructs were successfully generated carrying guide RNA (gRNA) sequences targeting members of the DIOXYGENASE FOR AUXIN OXIDATION (DAO) and UDP-glycosyl transferase (UGT) family of genes, by using a multiplex approach of the CRISPR-Cas9 technology. The different constructs were transformed into diverse Arabidopsis mutant backgrounds in order to faster and more efficiently generate different knockout combinations. Metabolic and transcriptional profiling of the lines generated here will be fundamental in modeling the regulation of the IAA inactivation pathways and their influence on IAA homeostasis. SLU/Dept. of Forest Genetics and Plant Physiology 2016 H2 eng https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/9707/
spellingShingle molecular biology
plant physiology
auxin
phytohormones
genetic screening
ethyl methanesulfonate
mapping-by-sequencing
CRISPR/Cas9
confocal microscopy
El Houari, Ilias
A search for novel functions in the auxin metabolic pathway
title A search for novel functions in the auxin metabolic pathway
title_full A search for novel functions in the auxin metabolic pathway
title_fullStr A search for novel functions in the auxin metabolic pathway
title_full_unstemmed A search for novel functions in the auxin metabolic pathway
title_short A search for novel functions in the auxin metabolic pathway
title_sort search for novel functions in the auxin metabolic pathway
topic molecular biology
plant physiology
auxin
phytohormones
genetic screening
ethyl methanesulfonate
mapping-by-sequencing
CRISPR/Cas9
confocal microscopy