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<front>
<journal-meta>
<journal-id journal-id-type="publisher-id">Front. Plant Sci.</journal-id>
<journal-title>Frontiers in Plant Science</journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="pubmed">Front. Plant Sci.</abbrev-journal-title>
<issn pub-type="epub">1664-462X</issn>
<publisher>
<publisher-name>Frontiers Media S.A.</publisher-name>
</publisher>
</journal-meta>
<article-meta>
<article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.3389/fpls.2017.00272</article-id>
<article-categories>
<subj-group subj-group-type="heading">
<subject>Plant Science</subject>
<subj-group>
<subject>Original Research</subject>
</subj-group>
</subj-group>
</article-categories>
<title-group>
<article-title>Manganese Toxicity Inhibited Root Growth by Disrupting Auxin Biosynthesis and Transport in <italic>Arabidopsis</italic></article-title>
</title-group>
<contrib-group>
<contrib contrib-type="author">
<name><surname>Zhao</surname> <given-names>Jingjing</given-names></name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1"><sup>1</sup></xref>
<xref ref-type="author-notes" rid="fn002"><sup>&#x2020;</sup></xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author">
<name><surname>Wang</surname> <given-names>Wenying</given-names></name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2"><sup>2</sup></xref>
<xref ref-type="author-notes" rid="fn002"><sup>&#x2020;</sup></xref>
<uri xlink:href="http://loop.frontiersin.org/people/417315/overview"/>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author">
<name><surname>Zhou</surname> <given-names>Huakun</given-names></name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff3"><sup>3</sup></xref>
<xref ref-type="author-notes" rid="fn002"><sup>&#x2020;</sup></xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author">
<name><surname>Wang</surname> <given-names>Ruling</given-names></name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1"><sup>1</sup></xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author">
<name><surname>Zhang</surname> <given-names>Ping</given-names></name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1"><sup>1</sup></xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author">
<name><surname>Wang</surname> <given-names>Huichun</given-names></name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2"><sup>2</sup></xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" corresp="yes">
<name><surname>Pan</surname> <given-names>Xiangliang</given-names></name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff4"><sup>4</sup></xref>
<xref ref-type="author-notes" rid="fn001"><sup>&#x002A;</sup></xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" corresp="yes">
<name><surname>Xu</surname> <given-names>Jin</given-names></name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1"><sup>1</sup></xref>
<xref ref-type="author-notes" rid="fn001"><sup>&#x002A;</sup></xref>
<uri xlink:href="http://loop.frontiersin.org/people/405560/overview"/>
</contrib>
</contrib-group>
<aff id="aff1"><sup>1</sup><institution>Key Laboratory of Tropical Plant Resources and Sustainable Use, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming</institution> <country>China</country></aff>
<aff id="aff2"><sup>2</sup><institution>College of Life Science and Geography, Qinghai Normal University</institution> <country>Xining, China</country></aff>
<aff id="aff3"><sup>3</sup><institution>Northwest Institute of Plateau Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences</institution> <country>Xining, China</country></aff>
<aff id="aff4"><sup>4</sup><institution>College of Environment, Zhejiang University of Technology</institution> <country>Hangzhou, China</country></aff>
<author-notes>
<fn fn-type="edited-by"><p>Edited by: <italic>Sergey Shabala, University of Tasmania, Australia</italic></p></fn>
<fn fn-type="edited-by"><p>Reviewed by: <italic>Zed Rengel, University of Western Australia, Australia; Min Yu, Foshan University, China</italic></p></fn>
<fn fn-type="corresp" id="fn001"><p>&#x002A;Correspondence: <italic>Jin Xu, <email>xujin@xtbg.ac.cn</email> Xiangliang Pan, <email>xiangliangpan@163.com</email></italic></p></fn>
<fn fn-type="other" id="fn002"><p><italic><sup>&#x2020;</sup>These authors have contributed equally to this work.</italic></p></fn>
<fn fn-type="other" id="fn003"><p>This article was submitted to Plant Abiotic Stress, a section of the journal Frontiers in Plant Science</p></fn>
</author-notes>
<pub-date pub-type="epub">
<day>03</day>
<month>03</month>
<year>2017</year>
</pub-date>
<pub-date pub-type="collection">
<year>2017</year>
</pub-date>
<volume>8</volume>
<elocation-id>272</elocation-id>
<history>
<date date-type="received">
<day>12</day>
<month>01</month>
<year>2017</year>
</date>
<date date-type="accepted">
<day>14</day>
<month>02</month>
<year>2017</year>
</date>
</history>
<permissions>
<copyright-statement>Copyright &#x00A9; 2017 Zhao, Wang, Zhou, Wang, Zhang, Wang, Pan and Xu.</copyright-statement>
<copyright-year>2017</copyright-year>
<copyright-holder>Zhao, Wang, Zhou, Wang, Zhang, Wang, Pan and Xu</copyright-holder>
<license xlink:href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"><p>This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.</p></license>
</permissions>
<abstract>
<p>Mn toxicity inhibits both primary root (PR) growth and lateral root development. However, the mechanism underlying Mn-mediated root growth inhibition remains to be further elucidated. Here, we investigated the role of auxin in Mn-mediated inhibition of PR growth in <italic>Arabidopsis</italic> using physiological and genetic approaches. Mn toxicity inhibits PR elongation by reducing meristematic cell division potential. Mn toxicity also reduced auxin levels in root tips by reducing IAA biosynthesis and down-regulating the expression of auxin efflux carriers <italic>PIN4</italic> and <italic>PIN7</italic>. Loss of function <italic>pin4</italic> and <italic>pin7</italic> mutants showed less inhibition of root growth than <italic>col-0</italic> seedlings. These results indicated that this inhibitory effect of Mn toxicity on PR growth was mediated by affecting auxin biosynthesis and the expression of auxin efflux transporters PIN4 and PIN7.</p>
</abstract>
<kwd-group>
<kwd>manganese (Mn) toxicity</kwd>
<kwd>auxin accumulation</kwd>
<kwd>auxin efflux carriers</kwd>
<kwd>primary root growth</kwd>
<kwd><italic>Arabidopsis</italic></kwd>
</kwd-group>
<contract-sponsor id="cn001">National Natural Science Foundation of China<named-content content-type="fundref-id">10.13039/501100001809</named-content></contract-sponsor>
<counts>
<fig-count count="4"/>
<table-count count="0"/>
<equation-count count="0"/>
<ref-count count="25"/>
<page-count count="8"/>
<word-count count="0"/>
</counts>
</article-meta>
</front>
<body>
<sec><title>Introduction</title>
<p>Manganese (Mn) is one of the essential micronutrient elements that constitutes the Mn-SOD and Mn-cluster of the oxygen-evolving complex in photosystem II and is also involved in the biosynthesis of acyl lipids, flavonoids, and lignin (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B11">Lidon et al., 2004</xref>). Therefore, Mn is necessary for plant growth and development (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B2">Chen et al., 2015</xref>). However, excess Mn is toxic to plants. Manganese (Mn) toxicity is probably the most important growth-limiting factor after aluminum (Al) for plants in acidic soils in some subtropical and tropical areas. Mn toxicity induced oxidative damage and thereby disrupting photosynthesis system in leaves. Excess Mn results in a rapid accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in plants and then causes chlorosis and necrosis in leaves (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B9">Le Bot et al., 1990</xref>). <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B19">Srivastava and Dubey (2011)</xref> found that treatment with high concentration of Mn (3 and 6 mM MnCl<sub>2</sub>) induce oxidative stress, lowers the pool of antioxidants and elevates activities of antioxidative enzymes in rice seedlings. Excess Mn (0.5 or 1.5 mM MnCl<sub>2</sub>) inhibited photosynthetic efficiency in the long term hydroponic-cultured <italic>Arabidopsis</italic> plants (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B14">Millaleo et al., 2012</xref>). Mn toxicity disrupted thylakoid structure and the photosynthetic electron transport chain, thus it is possible that chloroplast is the primary target of Mn toxicity (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B11">Lidon et al., 2004</xref>; <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B2">Chen et al., 2015</xref>).</p>
<p>Roots are also the primary target of Mn toxicity in plants. Roots of the plants exposed to Mn toxicity also exhibited a reduction in root growth, browning, and cracks in the roots (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B9">Le Bot et al., 1990</xref>). Most studies on the physiological mechanisms of plant responses to Mn toxicity were focused on Mn-inhibited photosynthesis, Mn-mediated changes in antioxidative enzymes, and ROS production. However, the studies on root physiology of plant responses to Mn toxicity are rare.</p>
<p>Auxin plays an important role in modulating root growth and responding to circumstance cues in plants. The AUXIN1/LIKE AUX1 (AUX1/LAX) family and the efflux carriers of the PINFORMED (PIN) family are required for optimal auxin distribution in root tips by regulating polar auxin transport (PAT) and are vital for modulating root growth and development (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B8">Laskowski et al., 2008</xref>; <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B24">Yuan et al., 2013</xref>; <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B10">Li et al., 2015</xref>; <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B18">Shi et al., 2015</xref>). Mutations in these carrier genes result in dramatic defects in the root system architecture (RSA) (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B8">Laskowski et al., 2008</xref>; <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B18">Shi et al., 2015</xref>). The Aux/IAA proteins are the negative regulators of auxin signaling (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B15">Ouellet et al., 2001</xref>). Modulation of Aux/IAA stabilization represents a general response strategy in plants to environmental cues (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B23">Yuan and Huang, 2016</xref>). Exposure to a high concentration of copper (Cu) inhibited primary root (PR) elongation by repressing PIN-FORMED 1 (PIN1) protein expression, thereby disrupting auxin transport in roots (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B24">Yuan et al., 2013</xref>). Cadmium (Cd) toxicity-induced decrease in auxin level and response in root tips is due to reduced PIN1/3/7 accumulation and increasing IAA17 stabilization (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B23">Yuan and Huang, 2016</xref>). AUX1 and PIN2 protect lateral root (LR) formation during the early stages of iron (Fe) stress in <italic>Arabidopsis</italic> (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B10">Li et al., 2015</xref>). Al toxicity inhibited root growth by modulating the expression and localization of PIN2 in roots (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B17">Shen et al., 2008</xref>; <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B20">Wu et al., 2014</xref>). <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B25">Zhu et al. (2013)</xref> found that auxin negatively regulates Al toxicity tolerance. Al toxicity induced auxin accumulation in the transition zone (TZ) of the root tips by <italic>TAA1</italic>-regulated local auxin biosynthesis in root tip TZ (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B21">Yang et al., 2014</xref>). However, whether and how Mn toxicity affects root growth by mediating auxin distribution and response in roots remains poorly understood.</p>
<p>In this study, we characterized Mn-inhibited root growth and described altered patterns of auxin accumulation and distribution in the PR of Mn-treated roots. Our results indicated that Mn toxicity reduced auxin levels in root tips by reducing IAA biosynthesis and down-regulating the expression of auxin efflux carriers PIN4 and PIN7 in <italic>Arabidopsis</italic>. The potential mechanisms involved in this process were discussed.</p>
</sec>
<sec id="s1" sec-type="materials|methods">
<title>Materials and Methods</title>
<sec><title>Plant Materials and Growth Conditions</title>
<p>Wild-type <italic>Arabidopsis col-0</italic> was used in this study. The following mutant and transgenic <italic>Arabidopsis</italic> lines were used: <italic>pin4-3</italic>, <italic>pin7-2</italic>, and <italic>DR5:GUS</italic>, <italic>DII-VENUS</italic>, <italic>PIN1:PIN1-GFP</italic>, <italic>PIN2:PIN2-GFP</italic>, <italic>PIN4:PIN4-GFP</italic>, <italic>PIN7:PIN7-GFP</italic>, <italic>AUX1:AUX1-YFP</italic>, <italic>CYCB1;1:GUS</italic>. <italic>Arabidopsis</italic> seeds were surface sterilized with 50% (v/v) bleach for 5 min and then rinsed with sterile deionized water five times. Sterilized seeds were sown onto 1/2 Murashige and Skoog (MS) agar medium [Sigma-Aldrich; supplemented with 1% (w/v) agar and 1.5% (w/v) sucrose, pH 5.75], and incubated for 2&#x2013;3 days at 4&#x00B0;C in the dark to synchronize germination. The seedlings were grown vertically for 5 days in standard aseptic growth conditions at 22&#x00B0;C with a 16 h light/8 h dark photoperiod. Five-day-old seedlings were transferred onto plates supplemented with MnCl<sub>2</sub> for 1&#x2013;3 days.</p>
</sec>
<sec><title>GUS Staining and Measurement of Fluorescence Microscopy</title>
<p>Seedlings harboring the GUS reporter gene were incubated at 37&#x00B0;C for 2&#x2013;3 h in GUS staining solution with the substrate 1 mM X-Gluc (5-bromo-4-chloro-3-indoxyl-beta-<sc>D</sc>-glucuronic acid cyclohexylammonium salt), and then discolored in 95% (v/v) ethanol before microscopic examination (Zeiss Axioskop).</p>
<p>The GFP lines were observed with a confocal laser scanning microscope (Zeiss) according to the manufacturer&#x2019;s instructions. The excitation and emission wavelengths were 488 and 520 nm, respectively. The roots treated with NO-specific fluorescent probe DAF-2 DA (Beyotime, China) were visualized using fluorescence microscope (Zeiss, excitation wavelength at 488 nm and emission wavelength at 525 nm).</p>
</sec>
<sec><title>Phenotypic Analysis</title>
<p>To investigate the effects of Mn toxicity on root growth and development, 5-day-old <italic>Arabidopsis</italic> seedlings grown in 1/2 MS medium were transferred to fresh media containing 2&#x2013;12 mM MnCl<sub>2</sub> for 2 days. The relative root length was calculated as the PR length grown in the treatment conditions divided by the mean PR length under control conditions (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B4">Freeman et al., 2010</xref>). At least 60 seedlings were analyzed for each treatment.</p>
</sec>
<sec><title>qRT-PCR Analysis</title>
<p>Five-day-old <italic>Arabidopsis col-0</italic> seedlings grown vertically on 1/2 MS medium were transferred onto 1/2 MS medium supplemented with 4 mM MnCl<sub>2</sub> for 2 days. Total RNA was isolated from seedlings (100 mg) using RNAiso Plus (TaKaRa) according to the manufacturer&#x2019;s instructions. The concentration of RNA was quantified spectrophotometrically using a NanoQuant. Reverse transcription was performed using the PrimeScript<sup>TM</sup> RT Reagent Kit with gDNA Eraser (TaKaRa). SYBR-green quantitative RT-PCR was performed with Platinum<sup>&#x00AE;</sup> SYBR<sup>&#x00AE;</sup> Green qPCR SuperMix-UDG (Invitrogen). <italic>ACTIN2</italic> (AT3G18780) and <italic>EF1a</italic> (AT5G60390) were used as internal controls for qRT-PCR normalization using GeNorm (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B3">Czechowski et al., 2005</xref>). The gene-specific primers are presented in Supplementary Table <xref ref-type="supplementary-material" rid="SM1">S1</xref>. All primer pairs produced only one peak in DNA melting curves indicating high specificity of the primers. Three independent biological replicates and three technical repetitions were performed for each gene.</p>
</sec>
<sec><title>Statistical Analysis</title>
<p>For the PR growth, GUS staining and fluorescence microscopy analysis, the experiments were repeated three times with at least 20 roots in each repeat. The experiment of nutrient content analysis was repeated six times. The data were analyzed using Image Pro Plus software (version 4.5.1.29; Media Cybernetics, Carlsbad, CA, USA) and SPSS (Statistic Package for Social Science) software. The results are presented as mean &#x00B1; SD of three (or six) independent experiments. For statistical analysis, we used Tukey&#x2019;s test.</p>
</sec>
</sec>
<sec><title>Results</title>
<sec><title>Mn Toxicity Inhibited PR Growth</title>
<p>Mn toxicity inhibited plant growth and development. In this study, we would like to explore the mechanisms for Mn-induced PR growth inhibition. Thus, we first tested the effects of different concentration of Mn on PR growth. As shown in <bold>Figure <xref ref-type="fig" rid="F1">1A</xref></bold>, the growth of PR was significantly reduced by exposure to excess Mn, and the reduction of PR elongation correlated positively with Mn concentrations. Because the treatment with 4 mM MnCl<sub>2</sub> induced an approximately 50% decrease of PR growth, we thus selected this concentration in subsequent experiments.</p>
<fig id="F1" position="float">
<label>FIGURE 1</label>
<caption><p><bold>Manganese (Mn) toxicity inhibited primary root (PR) growth in <italic>Arabidopsis</italic>.</bold> Five-day-old <italic>Arabidopsis</italic> seedlings grown in 1/2 MS medium were transferred to fresh media containing 2&#x2013;12 mM MnCl<sub>2</sub> for 2 days. <bold>(A)</bold> The PR length was measured after 2 days of treatment. Image of GUS staining <bold>(B)</bold> and the relative GUS activity <bold>(C)</bold> of 5-day-old <italic>CYCB1;1:GUS</italic> seedlings exposed to 4 mM MnCl<sub>2</sub> for 6, 24, and 72 h. Different letters indicate that they were significantly different at <italic>P</italic> &#x003C; 0.01 by Tukey&#x2019;s test. Error bars represent the &#x00B1;SD.</p></caption>
<graphic xlink:href="fpls-08-00272-g001.tif"/>
</fig>
<p>The results above showed that Mn toxicity inhibited PR growth. We then examined whether Mn toxicity repressed root growth and development by modulating the meristematic cell division potential by using the transgenic lines <italic>CYCB1;1:GUS</italic> (a marker used to monitor cell cycle). Mn toxicity significantly repressed the GUS activity in <italic>CYCB1;1:GUS</italic> (<bold>Figures <xref ref-type="fig" rid="F1">1B,C</xref></bold>) seedlings. These data indicated that Mn toxicity inhibited root growth by reducing the meristematic cell division potential in root tips.</p>
</sec>
<sec><title>Mn Toxicity Reduced Auxin Accumulation in Root Tips</title>
<p>Auxin plays a central role in regulating root growth and development. Therefore, we examined auxin accumulation in root tips exposed to Mn toxicity using auxin-responsive <italic>DR5:GUS</italic> marker lines, and a auxin-perceptive <italic>DII-VENUS</italic> marker lines, a transgenic line that responds to auxin in a dose-dependent manner without disrupting the activity of the auxin response machinery (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B1">Brunoud et al., 2012</xref>). Mn toxicity reduced the DR5:GUS fluorescent signal (<bold>Figures <xref ref-type="fig" rid="F2">2A,B</xref></bold>), whereas it significantly increased the DII-VENUS fluorescent signal in the root tips (<bold>Figures <xref ref-type="fig" rid="F2">2C,D</xref></bold>), suggested that Mn toxicity reduced auxin accumulation in roots.</p>
<fig id="F2" position="float">
<label>FIGURE 2</label>
<caption><p><bold>Manganese toxicity reduces auxin accumulation in root tips.</bold> Image of GUS staining <bold>(A)</bold> and the relative GUS activity <bold>(B)</bold> of 5-day-old <italic>DR5:GUS</italic> seedlings exposed to 4 mM MnCl<sub>2</sub> for 6 h and 1 day. YFP fluorescence <bold>(C)</bold> and quantification of the <italic>DII-VENUS</italic> fluorescence intensities <bold>(D)</bold> in the roots of 5-day-old <italic>DII-VENUS</italic> seedlings exposed to 4 mM MnCl<sub>2</sub> for 6 h-2 days. <bold>(E)</bold> Real-time quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) analysis of the expression of IAA biosynthesis-related genes in wild-type <italic>col-0</italic> seedlings treated with or without 4 mM MnCl<sub>2</sub> for 2 days. The expression levels of the indicated genes in the untreated roots were set to 1. The error bars represent the &#x00B1;SD. Different letters indicate significantly different values (<italic>P</italic> &#x003C; 0.05 by Tukey&#x2019;s test). <sup>&#x2217;&#x2217;</sup><italic>P</italic>-value &#x003C; 0.01.</p></caption>
<graphic xlink:href="fpls-08-00272-g002.tif"/>
</fig>
<p>Next, we examined whether Mn toxicity would also affect the expression of auxin biosynthesis-related genes. First, we examined the transcript levels of auxin biosynthesis-related genes using a quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) analysis (<bold>Figure <xref ref-type="fig" rid="F2">2E</xref></bold>). Mn toxicity significantly repressed the expression of <italic>YUC2</italic>, <italic>YUC3</italic>, <italic>SUR1</italic>, and <italic>ASA1</italic>, whereas the gene expression of <italic>YUC9</italic>, <italic>AAO3</italic>, <italic>TAA1</italic>, <italic>PAT1</italic>, and <italic>CYP79B2</italic> were unaffected. These data suggested that Mn toxicity repressed the gene expression of auxin biosynthesis-related genes.</p>
</sec>
<sec><title>PIN4 and PIN7 are Involved the Mn Toxicity-Induced Inhibition of PR Growth</title>
<p>Auxin transport plays a role in modulating auxin accumulation and distribution in root tips. We thus wondered whether Mn toxicity-repressed auxin accumulation in root tips is also due to disruption of auxin carrier expression. Thus, we examined the expression of the auxin carriers by using the transgenic lines that express <italic>AUX1:YFP</italic>, <italic>PIN1:GFP</italic>, <italic>PIN2:GFP</italic>, <italic>PIN4:GFP</italic>, and <italic>PIN7:GFP</italic>. We found that Mn treatment significantly reduced the expression of PIN4 (<bold>Figures <xref ref-type="fig" rid="F3">3A,B</xref></bold>) and PIN7 (<bold>Figures <xref ref-type="fig" rid="F3">3C,D</xref></bold>) in the root tips; however, the expression patterns of AUX1, PIN1, and PIN2 were almost unaffected (<bold>Figure <xref ref-type="fig" rid="F4">4</xref></bold>). These data indicated that PIN4 and PIN7 might be involved in Mn-induced inhibition of root growth.</p>
<fig id="F3" position="float">
<label>FIGURE 3</label>
<caption><p><bold>Manganese toxicity represses the expression of PIN4 and PIN7 in <italic>Arabidopsis</italic> roots.</bold> GFP fluorescence in the roots of 5-day-old <italic>PIN4:GFP</italic> <bold>(A)</bold> or <italic>PIN7:GFP</italic> <bold>(C)</bold> exposed to 4 mM MnCl<sub>2</sub> for 12&#x2013;48 h and the quantification of <italic>PIN4:GFP</italic> <bold>(B)</bold> or <italic>PIN7:GFP</italic> <bold>(D)</bold> fluorescence intensities. <bold>(E)</bold> The relative root length of <italic>col-0</italic>, <italic>pin4-3</italic>, and <italic>pin7-2</italic> seedlings treated with 4 mM MnCl<sub>2</sub> for 2 days compared with untreated seedlings. The error bars represent the &#x00B1;SD. Different letters indicate significantly different values (<italic>P</italic> &#x003C; 0.05 by Tukey&#x2019;s test). <sup>&#x2217;&#x2217;</sup><italic>P</italic>-value &#x003C; 0.01.</p></caption>
<graphic xlink:href="fpls-08-00272-g003.tif"/>
</fig>
<fig id="F4" position="float">
<label>FIGURE 4</label>
<caption><p><bold>Manganese toxicity did not affect the expression of AUX1, PIN1, and PIN2 in <italic>Arabidopsis</italic> roots.</bold> YFP/GFP fluorescence in the roots of 5-day-old <italic>AUX1:YFP</italic> <bold>(A)</bold>, <italic>PIN1:GFP</italic> <bold>(C)</bold>, and <italic>PIN2:GFP</italic> <bold>(E)</bold> seedlings exposed to 4 mM MnCl<sub>2</sub> for 12 h-2 days and quantification of the <italic>AUX1:YFP</italic> <bold>(B)</bold>, <italic>PIN1:GFP</italic> <bold>(D)</bold>, and <italic>PIN2:GFP</italic> <bold>(F)</bold> fluorescence intensities. The error bars represent the &#x00B1;SD.</p></caption>
<graphic xlink:href="fpls-08-00272-g004.tif"/>
</fig>
<p>We then investigated the roles of <italic>PIN4</italic> and <italic>PIN7</italic> in the Mn toxicity-induced inhibition of PR growth using <italic>pin4</italic> and <italic>pin7</italic> mutants. We found that both <italic>pin4</italic> and <italic>pin7</italic> mutants showed less inhibition of root growth than <italic>col-0</italic> seedlings (<bold>Figure <xref ref-type="fig" rid="F3">3E</xref></bold>). These results indicated that Mn-inhibited PR growth by disrupting the expression of PIN4 and PIN7.</p>
</sec>
</sec>
<sec><title>Discussion</title>
<p>Manganese is an essential micronutrient, but is highly toxic to plant growth and development in excess (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B22">Yao et al., 2012</xref>). However, the physiological and molecular mechanisms of root growth and development in the presence of excess Mn remain largely unclear. It has been reported that heavy metal stresses, i.e., Cd, Cu, and Fe, disturbed auxin biosynthesis and distribution in root tips, and thereby affected PR growth and LR formation (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B24">Yuan et al., 2013</xref>; <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B10">Li et al., 2015</xref>; <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B23">Yuan and Huang, 2016</xref>). Auxin is also involved in Al-induced root growth inhibition. The auxin over-producing mutant <italic>yucca</italic> showed increased Al sensitivity (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B25">Zhu et al., 2013</xref>). In this study, we found that Mn toxicity reduced DR5:GUS expression whereas it increased DII-VENUS fluorescent signal in the root tips, indicating that exposure to excess Mn resulted in PR growth inhibition by reducing auxin accumulation in root tips.</p>
<p>Our results indicated that Mn toxicity decreased auxin accumulation in roots by reducing auxin biosynthesis and repressing auxin transport via the decrease of the expression of auxin efflux carriers PIN4 and PIN7. Several lines of evidence support these conclusions. (1) qRT-PCR analysis indicated that four auxin biosynthesis-related genes (<italic>YUC2</italic>, <italic>YUC3</italic>, <italic>ASA1</italic>, and <italic>SUR1</italic>) were markedly downregulated in response to Mn toxicity. (2) Mn toxicity repressed the protein expression of PIN4 and PIN7, as indicated by PIN4-GFP and PIN7-GFP fluorescence. (3) Genetic analysis supported the result in <italic>pin4</italic> and <italic>pin7</italic> mutants.</p>
<p>Proper auxin accumulation depends on the coordination between auxin transport and biosynthesis (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B10">Li et al., 2015</xref>; <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B12">Liu et al., 2015</xref>, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B13">2016</xref>). PIN proteins are the central rate-limiting components that regulate auxin transport and optimal auxin accumulation in the root tips (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B16">Petrasek and Friml, 2009</xref>; <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B23">Yuan and Huang, 2016</xref>). The effects of heavy metal toxicity on auxin carrier expression and the promotion of root growth repression has been widely reported (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B24">Yuan et al., 2013</xref>; <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B10">Li et al., 2015</xref>; <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B23">Yuan and Huang, 2016</xref>). PIN1 is involved in Cu toxicity-induced PR growth inhibition (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B24">Yuan et al., 2013</xref>). <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B23">Yuan and Huang (2016)</xref> found that PIN1/3/7 are involved in Cd-repressed auxin accumulation in root tips. <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B10">Li et al. (2015)</xref> found that AUX1 and PIN2 are involved in Fe toxicity-mediated RSA remodeling. <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B21">Yang et al. (2014)</xref> found that Al toxicity specifically induced auxin accumulation in the TZ of the root tips. Al toxicity affected the expression and localization of PIN2 in roots, and thereby inhibiting root growth (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B17">Shen et al., 2008</xref>; <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B20">Wu et al., 2014</xref>). Although different auxin efflux carriers functioned in distinct heavy metal stresses, the changes in PIN protein levels were a common mechanisms underlying the heavy metal-induced root growth inhibition (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B23">Yuan and Huang, 2016</xref>). In this study, we found that Mn toxicity decreased both PIN4-GFP and PIN7-GFP fluorescence, suggesting clear roles for PIN4 and PIN7 in Mn-repressed auxin accumulation in root tips. Both PIN4 and PIN7 are required for PAT from shoots to roots and maintaining a maximal auxin concentration in the quiescent center (QC) and a steep auxin gradient in the proximal meristem (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B6">Friml et al., 2003</xref>; <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B8">Laskowski et al., 2008</xref>; <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B13">Liu et al., 2016</xref>). The <italic>pin7</italic> mutant failed to establish the apical-basal auxin gradient in embryos (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B6">Friml et al., 2003</xref>). The <italic>pin4</italic> mutant accumulates higher auxin levels in root tips (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B5">Friml et al., 2002</xref>). Both the <italic>pin4</italic> and <italic>pin7</italic> mutants exhibited less sensitivity to Mn toxicity, which suggested that PIN4 and PIN7 mediate Mn toxicity-reduced auxin accumulation and subsequently inhibited-PR elongation.</p>
<p>Root meristematic cell division potential is an important factor that affect root growth (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B13">Liu et al., 2016</xref>; <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B23">Yuan and Huang, 2016</xref>). Root meristem activity is controlled by auxin and cytokinin, and their interaction (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B7">Ioio et al., 2008</xref>). Auxin controls meristem growth and cell division by mediating degradation of SHY2 protein, a repressor of auxin signaling. Mn toxicity decreased auxin accumulation in roots, and thereby reducing meristematic cell division in root tips, as indicated by the <italic>pCYCB1;1: CYCB1;1-GUS</italic> marker line. Although Mn toxicity reduced the GUS activity in the roots of <italic>CYCB1;1:GUS</italic> seedlings, the GUS expression is still kept in the most intensively dividing cells of the meristematic zone, suggesting that Mn toxicity reduced root meristematic cell activity, but it did not completely induce cell death in the zone.</p>
<p>In summary, our study indicate that Mn toxicity inhibited PR growth by reducing auxin biosynthesis and repressing the expression of auxin efflux transporters PIN4 and PIN7 to reduce auxin levels in root tips, resulting in reduced root meristematic cell division.</p>
</sec>
<sec><title>Author Contributions</title>
<p>JX and XP conceived the study and designed the experiments. JZ, PZ, and RW carried out the experiments. JX, JZ, WW, HZ, and HW analyzed the data. JX, JZ, WW, XP, and HZ wrote the manuscript.</p>
</sec>
<sec><title>Conflict of Interest Statement</title>
<p>The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.</p>
</sec>
</body>
<back>
<fn-group>
<fn fn-type="financial-disclosure">
<p><bold>Funding</bold>. This work was supported by the Key Project of State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography of Chinese Academy of Sciences, the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2016YFC0501901), China National Natural Sciences Foundation (31170228, 31272239, 31260127), and Yunnan Province Foundation for academic leader (2014HB043).</p>
</fn>
</fn-group>
<ack>
<p>The authors gratefully acknowledge the Central Laboratory of the Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden for providing research facilities.</p>
</ack>
<sec sec-type="supplementary material">
<title>Supplementary Material</title>
<p>The Supplementary Material for this article can be found online at: <ext-link ext-link-type="uri" xlink:href="http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpls.2017.00272/full#supplementary-material">http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpls.2017.00272/full#supplementary-material</ext-link></p>
<supplementary-material xlink:href="Table_1.DOCX" id="SM1" mimetype="application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">
</supplementary-material>
</sec>
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