The main oxidative inactivation pathway of the plant hormone auxin

Inactivation of the phytohormone auxin plays important roles in plant development, and several enzymes have been implicated in auxin inactivation. In this study, we show that the predominant natural auxin, indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), is mainly inactivated via the GH3-ILR1-DAO pathway. IAA is first converted to IAA-amino acid conjugates by GH3 IAA-amidosynthetases. The IAA-amino acid conjugates IAA-aspartate (IAA-Asp) and IAA-glutamate (IAA-Glu) are storage forms of IAA and can be converted back to IAA by ILR1/ILL amidohydrolases. We further show that DAO1 dioxygenase irreversibly oxidizes IAA-Asp and IAA-Glu into 2-oxindole-3-acetic acid-aspartate (oxIAA-Asp) and oxIAA-Glu, which are subsequently hydrolyzed by ILR1 to release inactive oxIAA. This work established a complete pathway for the oxidative inactivation of auxin and defines the roles played by auxin homeostasis in plant development. Auxin inactivation plays important roles in plant development. Here the authors show that the main route of IAA inactivation in Arabidopsis is via conjugation by GH3 IAA-amidosynthetases followed by DAO1 dioxygenase-mediated oxidation of the conjugated forms and hydrolysis by ILR1 to release inactive oxIAA.

Automated summary

Auxin inactivation is crucial for plant development, with the main pathway in Arabidopsis involving conjugation by GH3 IAA-amidosynthetases, oxidation by DAO1 dioxygenase, and hydrolysis by ILR1. These steps illustrate the significance of auxin homeostasis in plant development.