Small Ubiquitin-like Modifier Protein SUMO Enables Plants to Control Growth Independently of the Phytohormone Gibberellin

Conti, Lucio; Nelis, Stuart; Zhang, Cunjin; Woodcock, Ailidh; Swarup, Ranjan; Galbiati, Massimo; Tonelli, Chiara; Napier, Richard; Hedden, Peter; Bennett, Malcolm; Sadanandom, Ari

Abstract

Plants survive adverse conditions by modulating their growth in response to a changing environment. Gibberellins (GAs) play a key role in these adaptive responses by stimulating the degradation of growth-repressing DELLA proteins. GA binding to its receptor GID1 enables association of GID1 with DELLAs. This leads to the ubiquitin-mediated proteasomal degradation of DELLAs and consequently growth promotion. We report that DELLA-dependent growth control can be regulated independently of GA. We demonstrate that when a proportion of DELLAs is conjugated to the Small Ubiquitin-like Modifier (SUMO) protein, the extent of conjugation increases during stress. We identify a SUMO-interacting motif in GID1 and demonstrate that SUMO-conjugated DELLA binds to this motif in a GA-independent manner. The consequent sequestration of GID1 by SUMO-conjugated DELLAs leads to an accumulation of non-SUMOylated DELLAs, resulting in beneficial growth restraint during stress. We conclude that plants have developed a GA-independent mechanism to control growth.

Citation

Conti, L., Nelis, S., Zhang, C., Woodcock, A., Swarup, R., Galbiati, M., Tonelli, C., Napier, R., Hedden, P., Bennett, M., & Sadanandom, A. (2014). Small Ubiquitin-like Modifier Protein SUMO Enables Plants to Control Growth Independently of the Phytohormone Gibberellin. Developmental Cell, 28(1), 102-110. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.devcel.2013.12.004

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Dec 6, 2013
• Online Publication Date: Jan 13, 2014
• Publication Date: Jan 13, 2014
• Deposit Date: Jul 13, 2018
• Journal: Developmental Cell
• Print ISSN: 1534-5807
• Electronic ISSN: 1878-1551
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 28
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 102-110
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.devcel.2013.12.004
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1095073
• Publisher URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1534580713007314?via%3Dihub