Abstract
Natural senescence of leaves is a regular physiological process subjected to a certain genetic program and controlled by various phytohormones. Cytokinins (CKs) play a crucial role in the leaf-senescence control being negative regulators of this process. We previously reported on the prolonged vegetative growth and the development of a double knockout ahk2ahk3 mutant of Arabidopsis thaliana Heynh. (L.) for the genes encoding CK receptors. According to the data of the transcriptomic analysis and real-time RT‑PCR of selected genes performed in this study, the delay of leaf senescence in ahk2ahk3 mutants is accompanied by enhanced (4–281-fold) expression of the group of SAUR (small auxin-up RNA) genes encoding auxin response proteins and by upregulation of the SSPP (senescence-suppressed protein phosphatase) gene, whose expression level significantly (137-fold) exceeded that in a wild-type transcriptome. Thus, it is quite possible that under significant inhibition of the CK signaling leaf senescence in Arabidopsis plants regulated via a compensatory mechanism connected with changes in the expression of the SAUR gene family and a certain pool of genes related to the auxin transport and signaling.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We thank Dr. M.D. Logacheva, Head of the Genomics Core Facility of the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, for assistance in this study.
Funding
The study was supported by the Russian Science Foundation (project no. 18-74-00135). The sequencing and bioinformatic analysis were performed at the Genomics Core Facility of the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology.
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Translated by N. Statsyuk
Abbreviations: CK—cytokinins; real-time RT-PCR—real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction; AHK—Arabidopsis histidine kinase.
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Danilova, M.N., Doroshenko, A.S., Kudryakova, N.V. et al. The Crosstalk between Cytokinin and Auxin Signaling Pathways in the Control of Natural Senescence of Arabidopsis thaliana Leaves. Russ J Plant Physiol 67, 1028–1035 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1021443720060035
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S1021443720060035