Nitric oxide An emerging regulator of cell elongation during primary root growth

Nitric oxide (NO) is a highly inducible molecule and overaccumulated during stress responses, such as drought, cold and pathogen infection. Several key developmental processes within a plant life cycle have been reported to be signaled by this gaseous molecule, and among them seed germination, de-etiolation, gravitropic response or root growth are well-characterized. The importance of NO as a plant growth and stress regulator is emerging considerably, despite the current knowledge about its signaling pathway is still limited. Therefore, the identification and characterization at the molecular level of NO targets is essential to get a deeper insight into this pathway. Here we characterize the effect of NO on root development in Arabidopsis and found that NO application reduces cell lengths in differentiation zone. Additionally, the contribution of the gibberellin (GA) signaling pathway to the NO root-related phenotypes, mainly through DELLA repressors, is also depicted.