The Arabidopsis NPF3 protein is a GA transporter

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 7; no. 1; pp. 11486 - 11
• Main Authors: Tal, Iris, Zhang, Yi, Jørgensen, Morten Egevang, Pisanty, Odelia, Barbosa, Inês C. R., Zourelidou, Melina, Regnault, Thomas, Crocoll, Christoph, Erik Olsen, Carl, Weinstain, Roy, Schwechheimer, Claus, Halkier, Barbara Ann, Nour-Eldin, Hussam Hassan, Estelle, Mark, Shani, Eilon
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 03.05.2016; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 631/449/1741; 631/449/448/2651; Abscisic acid; Abscisic Acid - metabolism; Abscisic Acid - pharmacology; Arabidopsis - drug effects; Arabidopsis - genetics; Arabidopsis - growth & development; Arabidopsis - metabolism; Arabidopsis Proteins - genetics; Arabidopsis Proteins - metabolism; Bacterial Proteins - genetics; Bacterial Proteins - metabolism; Biological Transport; Biology; Biosynthesis; Carrier Proteins - genetics; Carrier Proteins - metabolism; Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; Gibberellins - metabolism; Gibberellins - pharmacology; Hormones; Humanities and Social Sciences; Luminescent Proteins - genetics; Luminescent Proteins - metabolism; multidisciplinary; Mutation; Plant Growth Regulators - metabolism; Plant Growth Regulators - pharmacology; Plant Roots - drug effects; Plant Roots - genetics; Plant Roots - growth & development; Plant Roots - metabolism; Plants, Genetically Modified; Recombinant Fusion Proteins - genetics; Recombinant Fusion Proteins - metabolism; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Seeds - drug effects; Seeds - genetics; Seeds - growth & development; Seeds - metabolism; Signal Transduction; Denmark; Tel Aviv Israel; Israel
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/ncomms11486

Gibberellins (GAs) are plant hormones that promote a wide range of developmental processes. While GA signalling is well understood, little is known about how GA is transported or how GA distribution is regulated. Here we utilize fluorescently labelled GAs (GA-Fl) to screen for Arabidopsis mutants deficient in GA transport. We show that the NPF3 transporter efficiently transports GA across cell membranes in vitro and GA-Fl in vivo . NPF3 is expressed in root endodermis and repressed by GA. NPF3 is targeted to the plasma membrane and subject to rapid BFA-dependent recycling. We show that abscisic acid (ABA), an antagonist of GA, is also transported by NPF3 in vitro. ABA promotes NPF3 expression and GA-Fl uptake in plants. On the basis of these results, we propose that GA distribution and activity in Arabidopsis is partly regulated by NPF3 acting as an influx carrier and that GA–ABA interaction may occur at the level of transport. Transport of the plant hormone gibberellin is required for normal plant growth and development. Here, Tal et al . show that NPF3 is able to transport gibberellin in vitro , and provide evidence that it is required for normal gibberellin distribution and activity in plants.