SINGLE ROL GENES FROM THE AGROBACTERIUM-RHIZOGENES TL-DNA ALTER SOME OF THE CELLULAR-RESPONSES TO AUXIN IN NICOTIANA-TABACUM

Two kinds of cellular responses to auxin, the hyperpolarization of protoplasts and the division of protoplast-derived cells, were compared in Nicotiana tabacum plants transformed by different T-DNA fragments of Agrobacterium rhizogenes strain A4. Using transmembrane potential difference measurements to characterize hormonal sensitivity of mesophyll protoplasts, we found a 30-fold increase in sensitivity to auxin in protoplasts transformed by the whole Ri A4 T-DNA. Furthermore, the rol genes of the Ri A4 T(L)-DNA, together or as single genes, were able to increase the sensitivity to auxin by factors up to 10(4). The different effects of the single rol genes on the sensitivity of mesophyll protoplasts to auxin, rolB being the most powerful, were consistent with their respective rhizogenic effects on leaf fragments (A Spena, T Schmulling, C Koncz, J Schell [1987] EMBO J 6: 3891-3899). No difference was seen concerning the effects of auxin on division of cells derived from normal or transformed protoplasts. These results suggest that only some cellular responses to auxin could be selectively altered by rol genes. They also show that rol-transformed tobaccos can be a model system to study auxin action in plants.