Auxin transport: conserved actors and divergent patterns

Auxin is a plant hormone involved in a wide range of biological processes from endocytosis, cell polarity and cell cycle to macroscopic phenomena such as tissue patterning and de novo formation of organs. The history of auxin research reaches back more than a hundred years, but our understanding of how auxin governs such a wide range of responses is far from being exhaustive. However, it is now evident that auxin coordinates many growth and differentiation processes by modulating gene expression during plant development. From many studies on the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana over the last years, it has become clear that the expression and sub-cellular localization of multiple transport proteins are required to initiate and maintain directional auxin flows within plant organs and tissues, so creating the auxin concentration gradients that regulate plant development. The understanding of auxin dependent pattern formation also relies on the possibility to characterize multiple auxin transport proteins in different non model plant species, assess their role during tissues differentiation and organ development and determine their possible cross-talk with other important patterning genes. These observations would also contribute to clarify whether auxin patterning is conserved in different plant species, from dicots to mocots including crops, or whether different life strategies need diverse pattern formation. My idea would be to collect the following kind of contributions:
- A couple of reviews with an overview of auxin transporters from discoveries to characterization considering different plant species;
- A few reviews reporting the state of the art on auxin patterning in model and non model species to highlight potential homologies and divergences;
- A set of contributions with novel results on “the core” of the topic (examples on auxin transporter and their effect on patterning) which might also include transfer of applications/methods from model to new materials.
- A critical review on future research lines and on the research on auxin transport and patterning and its possible biotechnological impact.
Finally I would like to dedicate this Research Topic to Professor Angelo Ramina, who is listed in the candidates contributors.
He suddenly died at the beginning of this year for a cancer, after having taught to many students the fascinating history of auxin and its role in many aspect of plant development.