Type
ArticleAuthors
Dickinson, Alexandra JLehner, Kevin
Mi, Jianing

Jia, Kunpeng

Mijar, Medhavinee
Dinneny, José
Al-Babili, Salim

Benfey, Philip N
KAUST Department
Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering (BESE) DivisionCenter for Desert Agriculture
Plant Science
Date
2019-05-08Online Publication Date
2019-05-08Print Publication Date
2019-05-21Permanent link to this record
http://hdl.handle.net/10754/652858
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Natural compounds capable of increasing root depth and branching are desirable tools for enhancing stress tolerance in crops. We devised a sensitized screen to identify natural metabolites capable of regulating root traits in Arabidopsis β-Cyclocitral, an endogenous root compound, was found to promote cell divisions in root meristems and stimulate lateral root branching. β-Cyclocitral rescued meristematic cell divisions in ccd1ccd4 biosynthesis mutants, and β-cyclocitral-driven root growth was found to be independent of auxin, brassinosteroid, and reactive oxygen species signaling pathways. β-Cyclocitral had a conserved effect on root growth in tomato and rice and generated significantly more compact crown root systems in rice. Moreover, β-cyclocitral treatment enhanced plant vigor in rice plants exposed to salt-contaminated soil. These results indicate that β-cyclocitral is a broadly effective root growth promoter in both monocots and eudicots and could be a valuable tool to enhance crop vigor under environmental stress.Citation
Dickinson AJ, Lehner K, Mi J, Jia K-P, Mijar M, et al. (2019) β-Cyclocitral is a conserved root growth regulator. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences: 201821445. Available: http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1821445116.Sponsors
We thank Jingyuan Zhang for technical support provided for the duration of this project; Michel Havaux, Stefano D’Alessandro, Polly Hsu, and Larry Wu for helpful discussions; Dolf Weijers, Cara Winter, Colleen Drapek, and Isaiah Taylor for critical reading; and Linxing Yao (Proteomics and Metabolomics Facility, Colorado State University) for experimental assistance. This work was supported by the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Postdoctoral Fellowship (to A.J.D.); by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation Grant GBMF3405 (to P.N.B.); and by baseline funding and Competitive Research Grant CRG4 (to S.A.-B.) from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology.Additional Links
https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2019/05/07/1821445116ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1073/pnas.1821445116