Poster: Hormone synthesis & metabolism

Abs # 477: Functional analyses of the Arabidopsis thaliana PIN genes

Presenter:	Shin, HwaSoo , hsshin@noble.org
Authors	Shin, HwaSoo  (A)   Shin, Heungsop  (A)   Guo, Zibiao  (A)   Chen, Rujin  (A)
Affiliations:	(A): The Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation

Polar transport of the phytohormone auxins is a unique aspect of auxin biology in plants. The directional movement of auxins requires both carrier-mediated influx and efflux activities. Recent studies indicated that a group of genes of the auxin efflux PIN gene family play a role in diverse developmental and growth processes including axis formation during embryogenesis and tropic responses to gravity and light. Sequence analysis indicates that there are 8 closely-related and 7 remotely-related sequences in the Arabidopsis genome. Northern blot and RT-PCR analyses revealed overlapping and/or distinct temporal and spatial patterns of gene expression, suggesting that they are involved in redundant and/or parallel functions. To understand functions of the PIN genes in auxin physiology, we set out a reverse genetics approach to isolate and characterize T-DNA insertional mutants. Together with Northern blot and promoter reporter fusion analyses, we will discuss our phenotypic analyses on these mutants (Financial support was from the Noble Foundation to R.C.).