Photoreceptor-mediated kin recognition in plants

MARÍA A. CREPY; JORGE J. CASAL

NEW PHYTOLOGIST

WILEY-BLACKWELL PUBLISHING, INC

Lugar: Londres; Año: 2015 vol. 205 p. 329 - 338

0028-646X

Although cooperative interactions among kin have been established in a variety of biologicalsystems, their occurrence in plants remains controversial. Plants of Arabidopsis thaliana were grown in rows of either a single or multiple accessions. Plants recognized kin neighbours and horizontally reoriented leaf growth, a response notobserved when plants were grown with nonkin. Plant kin recognition involved the perceptionof the vertical red/far-red light and blue light profiles. Disruption of the light profiles, mutationsat the PHYTOCHROME B, CRYPTOCHROME 1 or 2, or PHOTOTROPIN 1 or 2 photoreceptorgenes or mutations at the TRYPTOPHAN AMINOTRANSFERASE OF ARABIDOPSIS1gene required for auxin (growth hormone) synthesis impaired the response. The leaf-positionresponse increases plant self-shading, decreases mutual shading between neighbours andincreases fitness. Light signals from neighbours are known to shape a more competitive plant body. Here weshow that photosensory receptors mediate cooperative rather than competitive interactionsamong kin neighbours by reducing the competition for local pools of resources.