PIN proteins perform a rate-limiting function in cellular auxin efflux.

Jan Petrásek, Jozef Mravec, Rodolphe Bouchard, Joshua J Blakeslee, Melinda Abas, Daniela Seifertová, Justyna Wisniewska, Zerihun Tadele, Martin Kubes, Milada Covanová, Pankaj Dhonukshe, Petr Skupa, Eva Benková, Lucie Perry, Pavel Krecek, Ok Ran Lee, Gerald R Fink, Markus Geisler, Angus S Murphy, Christian Luschnig, Eva Zazímalová, Jirí Friml

Journal: Science (New York, N.Y.) 2006;312(5775):914-8

PMID: 16601150

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Abstract

Intercellular flow of the phytohormone auxin underpins multiple developmental processes in plants. Plant-specific pin-formed (PIN) proteins and several phosphoglycoprotein (PGP) transporters are crucial factors in auxin transport-related development, yet the molecular function of PINs remains unknown. Here, we show that PINs mediate auxin efflux from mammalian and yeast cells without needing additional plant-specific factors. Conditional gain-of-function alleles and quantitative measurements of auxin accumulation in Arabidopsis and tobacco cultured cells revealed that the action of PINs in auxin efflux is distinct from PGP, rate-limiting, specific to auxins, and sensitive to auxin transport inhibitors. This suggests a direct involvement of PINs in catalyzing cellular auxin efflux.

Address: Institute of Experimental Botany, the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, 165 02 Prague 6, Czech Republic.

DOI: 10.1126/science.1123542