A map of cell type-specific auxin responses

Abstract

• The majority of the thousands of auxin-responsive genes in the Arabidopsis thaliana root show a spatial bias in their induction or repression by auxin treatment.

• Auxin promotes the expression of cell-identity markers for the developing xylem and quiescent center, whereas it inhibits markers for the maturing xylem, cortex and trichoblasts.

• Relative induction or repression by auxin predicts expression along the longitudinal axis of the root.

Abstract

In plants, changes in local auxin concentrations can trigger a range of developmental processes as distinct tissues respond differently to the same auxin stimulus. However, little is known about how auxin is interpreted by individual cell types. We performed a transcriptomic analysis of responses to auxin within four distinct tissues of the Arabidopsis thaliana root and demonstrate that different cell types show competence for discrete responses. The majority of auxin-responsive genes displayed a spatial bias in their induction or repression. The novel data set was used to examine how auxin influences tissue-specific transcriptional regulation of cell-identity markers. Additionally, the data were used in combination with spatial expression maps of the root to plot a transcriptomic auxin-response gradient across the apical and basal meristem. The readout revealed a strong correlation for thousands of genes between the relative response to auxin and expression along the longitudinal axis of the root. This data set and comparative analysis provide a transcriptome-level spatial breakdown of the response to auxin within an organ where this hormone mediates many aspects of development.