HIGH-SENSITIVITY TO AUXIN IS A COMMON FEATURE OF HAIRY ROOT

The responses to auxin of Lycopersicon esculentum roots transformed by (TL+TR)-DNA of the Ri plasmid of agropine-type Agrobacterium rhizogenes strain 15834 and Catharanthus trichophyllus roots transformed by the (TL+TR)-DNA, and by TL- or TR-DNA alone of the same bacterial strain were compared to that of their normal counterparts. The transmembrane electrical potential difference of root protoplasts was measured as a function of the concentration of exogenous naphthalene acetic acid. The sensitivity to auxin expressed by this response was shown to be independent of the measurement conditions and of the basal polarization of isolated protoplasts. According to this electrical response, as well as to the modulation by auxin of proton excretion by root tips and root tip elongation, roots transformed by (TL+TR) DNA are 100 to 1000 times more sensitive to exogenous auxin than normal roots, as is the case with normal and transformed roots from Lotus corniculatus (WH Shen, A Petit, J Guern, J Tempé [1988] Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 85: 3417-3421). Furthermore, transformed roots of C. trichophyllus are not modified in their sensitivity to fusicoccin, illustrating the specificity of the modification of the auxin sensitivity. Roots transformed by the TR-DNA alone showed the same sensitivity to auxin as normal roots, whereas the roots transformed by the TL-DNA alone exhibited an auxin sensitivity as high as the roots transformed by (TL+TR)-DNA. It was concluded that the high sensitivity to auxin is controlled by the TL-DNA in agropine type Ri plasmids.