The preprophase band of microtubules controls the robustness of division orientation in plants.

Controlling cell division plane orientation is essential for morphogenesis in multicellular organisms. In plant cells, the future cortical division plane is marked before mitotic entry by the preprophase band (PPB). Here, we characterized an Arabidopsis trm (TON1 Recruiting Motif) mutant that impairs PPB formation but does not affect interphase microtubules. Unexpectedly, PPB disruption neither abolished the capacity of root cells to define a cortical division zone nor induced aberrant cell division patterns but rather caused a loss of precision in cell division orientation. Our results advocate for a reassessment of PPB function and division plane determination in plants and show that a main output of this microtubule array is to limit spindle rotations in order to increase the robustness of cell division.

Functional analysis of Arabidopsis immune-related MAPKs uncovers a role for MPK3 as negative regulator of inducible defences.

BACKGROUND: Mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) are key regulators of immune responses in animals and plants. In Arabidopsis, perception of microbe-associated molecular patterns (MAMPs) activates the MAPKs MPK3, MPK4 and MPK6. Increasing information depicts the molecular events activated by MAMPs in plants, but the specific and cooperative contributions of the MAPKs in these signalling events are largely unclear. RESULTS: In this work, we analyse the behaviour of MPK3, MPK4 and MPK6 mutants in early and late immune responses triggered by the MAMP flg22 from bacterial flagellin. A genome-wide transcriptome analysis reveals that 36% of the flg22-upregulated genes and 68% of the flg22-downregulated genes are affected in at least one MAPK mutant. So far MPK4 was considered as a negative regulator of immunity, whereas MPK3 and MPK6 were believed to play partially redundant positive functions in defence. Our work reveals that MPK4 is required for the regulation of approximately 50% of flg22-induced genes and we identify a negative role for MPK3 in regulating defence gene expression, flg22-induced salicylic acid accumulation and disease resistance to Pseudomonas syringae. Among the MAPK-dependent genes, 27% of flg22-upregulated genes and 76% of flg22-downregulated genes require two or three MAPKs for their regulation. The flg22-induced MAPK activities are differentially regulated in MPK3 and MPK6 mutants, both in amplitude and duration, revealing a highly interdependent network. CONCLUSIONS: These data reveal a new set of distinct functions for MPK3, MPK4 and MPK6 and indicate that the plant immune signalling network is choreographed through the interplay of these three interwoven MAPK pathways.

Salmonella enterica flagellin is recognized via FLS2 and activates PAMP-triggered immunity in Arabidopsis thaliana.

Infections with Salmonella enterica belong to the most prominent causes of food poisoning and infected fruits and vegetables represent important vectors for salmonellosis. Recent evidence indicates that plants recognize S. enterica and raise defense responses. Nonetheless, the molecular mechanisms controlling the interaction of S. enterica with plants are still largely unclear. Here, we show that flagellin from S. enterica represents a prominent pathogen-associated molecular pattern (PAMP) in Arabidopsis thaliana, which induces PAMP-triggered immunity (PTI) via the recognition of the flg22 domain by the receptor kinase FLS2. The Arabidopsis fls2 mutant shows reduced though not abolished PTI activation, indicating that plants rely also on recognition of other S. enterica PAMPs. Interestingly, the S. enterica type III secretion system (T3SS) mutant prgH- induced stronger defense gene expression than wild-type bacteria in Arabidopsis, suggesting that T3SS effectors are involved in defense suppression. Furthermore, we observe that S. enterica strains show variation in the flg22 epitope, which results in proteins with reduced PTI-inducing activity. Altogether, these results show that S. enterica activates PTI in Arabidopsis and suggest that, in order to accomplish plant colonization, S. enterica evolved strategies to avoid or suppress PTI.