FERONIA receptor kinase pathway suppresses abscisic acid signaling in Arabidopsis by activating ABI2 phosphatase

Feng Yu, Lichao Qian, Candida Sofia Nibau, Qiaohong Duan, Daniel Kita, Kathryn Levasseur, Xiaoqian Li, Changqing Lu, Hui Li, Congcong Hou, Legong Li, Bob B. Buchanan, Liangbi Chen, Alice Y. Cheung, Dongping Li, Sheng Luan

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Plant growth and development are controlled by a delicate balance of hormonal cues. Growth-promoting hormones and growth-inhibiting counterparts often antagonize each other in their action, but the molecular mechanisms underlying these events remain largely unknown. Here, we report a cross-talk mechanism that enables a receptor-like kinase, FERONIA (FER), a positive regulator of auxin-promoted growth, to suppress the abscisic acid (ABA) response through activation of ABI2, a negative regulator of ABA signaling. The FER pathway consists of a FER kinase interacting with guanine exchange factors GEF1, GEF4, and GEF10 that, in turn, activate GTPase ROP11/ARAC10. Arabidopsis mutants disrupted in any step of the FER pathway, including fer, gef1gef4gef10, or rop11/arac10, all displayed an ABA-hypersensitive response, implicating the FER pathway in the suppression mechanism. In search of the target for the FER pathway, we found that the ROP11/ARAC10 protein physically interacted with the ABI2 phosphatase and enhanced its activity, thereby linking the FER pathway with the inhibition of ABA signaling.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)14693-14698
JournalProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Volume109
Issue number36
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 04 Sept 2012

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