Previously, we characterized 92
Arabidopsis genes (
AtSFLs) similar to the
S-locus F-box genes involved in
S-RNase-based self-incompatibility and found that they likely play diverse roles in
Arabidopsis. In this study, we investigated the role of one of these genes,
CEGENDUO (
CEG, AtSFL61), in the lateral root formation. A T-DNA insertion in
CEG led to an increased lateral root production, which was complemented by transformation of the wild-type gene. Its downregulation
by RNAi also produced more lateral roots in transformed
Arabidopsis plants whereas its overexpression generated less lateral roots compared to wild-type, indicating that CEG acts as a negative
regulator for the lateral root formation. It was found that
CEG was expressed abundantly in vascular tissues of the primary root, but not in newly formed lateral root primordia and the
root meristem, and induced by exogenous auxin NAA (α-naphthalene acetic acid). In addition, the
ceg mutant was hyposensitive to NAA, IAA (indole-3-acetic acid) and 2,4-D (2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid), as well as the auxin
transport inhibitor TIBA (3,3,5-triiodobenzoic acid), showing that
CEG is an auxin-inducible gene. Taken together, our results show that CEG is a novel F-box protein negatively regulating the
auxin-mediated lateral root formation in
Arabidopsis.
Keywords Arabidopsis - auxin - F-box protein - lateral root formation