MCTP controls nucleocytoplasmic partitioning of AUXIN RESPONSE FACTORs during lateral root development

Lijie Xuan; Jiayi Li; Yupeng Jiang; Meiqi Shi; Yunke Zhu; Xinru Bao; Qingqiu Gong; Hong-Wei Xue; Hao Yu; Lu Liu

doi:10.1016/j.devcel.2024.09.026

MCTP controls nucleocytoplasmic partitioning of AUXIN RESPONSE FACTORs during lateral root development

Dev Cell. 2024 Oct 15:S1534-5807(24)00573-2. doi: 10.1016/j.devcel.2024.09.026. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Lijie Xuan¹, Jiayi Li¹, Yupeng Jiang¹, Meiqi Shi¹, Yunke Zhu¹, Xinru Bao¹, Qingqiu Gong², Hong-Wei Xue¹, Hao Yu³, Lu Liu⁴

Affiliations

¹ Shanghai Collaborative Innovation Center of Agri-Seeds/Joint Center for Single Cell Biology, School of Agriculture and Biology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Microbial Metabolism & Joint International Research Laboratory of Metabolic and Developmental Sciences, School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China.
³ Department of Biological Sciences and Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117543, Singapore.
⁴ Shanghai Collaborative Innovation Center of Agri-Seeds/Joint Center for Single Cell Biology, School of Agriculture and Biology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China. Electronic address: lu.liu@sjtu.edu.cn.

PMID: 39423818
DOI: 10.1016/j.devcel.2024.09.026

Abstract

The plant hormone auxin orchestrates almost all aspects of plant growth and development. AUXIN RESPONSE FACTORs (ARFs) control the transcription of auxin-responsive genes, forming cytoplasmic condensates to modulate auxin sensitivity and diversify auxin response regulation. However, the dynamic control of ARF distribution across different subcellular compartments remains largely obscure. Here, we show that three MULTIPLE C2 DOMAIN AND TRANSMEMBRANE REGION PROTEINs (MCTPs), MCTP3, MCTP4, and MCTP6, control ARF nucleocytoplasmic partitioning and determine lateral root development. MCTP3/4/6 are highly expressed in lateral roots and specifically interact with ARF7 and ARF19 to dissolve their cytoplasmic condensates. This promotes ARF nuclear localization in lateral root primordia and enhances auxin signaling during lateral root formation. Our findings confer MCTP as a key switch to modulate auxin responses and outline an MCTP-ARF signaling cascade that is crucial for the establishment of the plant root system.

Keywords: ARF; MCTP; auxin signaling; condensate dissolution; intrinsically disordered region; lateral root development; nucleocytoplasmic partitioning; protein condensation; tissue specific response.