Rescue of defective auxin-mediated gene expression and root meristem function by inhibition of ethylene signalling in sterol biosynthesis mutants of Arabidopsis.

The roles of sterols in plant development are not well understood, but evidence is emerging that they are required for cell division, polarity and patterning by mechanisms that are independent of brassinosteroids, of which they are precursors. Previous evidence shows that two sterol-defective mutants of Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh., hyd1 and fk(hyd2), are defective in root development. Here we show that the HYD1 gene, like the FK gene, is transcriptionally active in both primary and lateral root meristems, though not in the shoot apical meristem. The patterns of cell division during early stages of lateral root initiation in the hyd1 and fk(hyd2) mutants appear normal. Previous evidence also suggests that auxin and ethylene signalling is defective in the mutants. Here we show that the cytokinin- and ethylene-responsive ACS1::GUS reporter in the fk(hyd2) mutant responds to exogenous cytokinins but not to the ethylene precursor 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid, indicative of normal cytokinin signalling but supporting the hypothesis that ethylene signalling is defective. The defective root meristem cell division activity and expression patterns of the auxin-regulated DR5::GUS and IAA2::GUS reporters can be rescued to a significant extent by the pharmacological or genetic inhibition of ethylene signalling, but not by treatment with aminoethoxyvinylglycine, an inhibitor of ethylene synthesis. This supports the emerging view that the hyd1 and fk(hyd2) mutants exhibit an enhanced and unregulated ethylene signalling activity, which accounts for at least part of the observed mutant phenotypes, including disrupted auxin signalling. The possible relationship between ethylene signalling, membrane sterols and meristem function is discussed.