The role of ABC transporters in kin recognition in Arabidopsis thaliana.

The ability to sense and respond to the surrounding rhizosphere including communications with neighboring plants and microbes is essential for plant survival. Recently, it has been established that several plant species including Arabidopsis thaliana have the ability to recognize rhizospheric neighbors based or their genetic identity. This study investigated the role of ABC transporters in kin recognition in A. thaliana based on previous evidence that root secretions are involved in the kin recognition response and that ABC transporters are responsible for secretion of a number of compounds. Three genes, AtPGP1, ATATH1 and ATATH10, are all implicated to be partially involved in the complex kin recognition response in A. thaliana based on this report. These findings highlight the importance of ABC transporters in understanding root secretions and plant-plant community interactions.