Auxin plays crucial roles in regulating plant growth and development. Previous studies have demonstrated that auxin transduces its signal by promoting the proteolysis of transcriptional repressor Aux/IAAs by the 26S proteasome. However, regulatory mechanism of the homeostasis of Aux/IAA proteins remains unclear.

Now, Prof. Hong-Wei Xue and his colleagues at Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, SIBS, CAS, identified a new player, named PROTEASOME REGULATOR1 (PTRE1), in auxin signaling pathway. PTRE1 encodes an Arabidopsis homolog of the mammalian proteasome inhibitor PI31 and acts as a positive regulator for auxin-mediated regulation of proteasome activity. Loss-of-function ptre1 mutants display auxin-related phenotypes, are insensitive to auxin-mediated suppression of proteasome activity, and show diminished auxin-induced degradation of Aux/IAA proteins. More interestingly, auxin may suppress proteasome activity through altering the subcellular localization of PTRE1.

Proteasome-mediated protein degradation involves in various aspects of hormone signaling and stress responses, this study helps us to understand how auxin regulates proteasome activity, as well as the functional mechanism of auxin and other plant hormones.

This study entitled “Arabidopsis PROTEASOME REGULATOR1 is required for auxin-mediated suppression of proteasome activity and regulates auxin signaling” was published online in Nature Communications on April 25^th, 2016. This work is supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 91117009).

Contact:
Hong-Wei Xue, PhD, Professor
Institute of Plant Physiology & Ecology
Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences
Chinese Academy of Sciences
300 Fenglin Road
Shanghai 200032, China