THE ROLE OF AUXIN DURING OVULE DEVELOPMENT IN ARABIDOPSIS

Auxin is involved in many aspects of plant growth and development such as embryogenesis, organogenesis and vascular tissues differentiation. Auxin can trigger these moltitude of effects since it is polarly transported, and as a consequence specific spatial-temporal auxin gradients are created. The Polar Auxin Transport (PAT) is due to the action of several auxin carriers: among them a major role is played by the 8 PIN proteins. PINs are polarly localized in the cell membrane, they can rapidly cycle inside the cell and a mutual regulation exists between PIN expression patterns and auxin concentration. This research project focuses on the role of auxin during ovule development in Arabidopsis thaliana. We have introduced in Arabidopsis an artificial microRNA (amiRNA) directed against PIN1 that is under the control of an ovule specific promoter. Interestingly microscopic analysis show that in these transgenic plants ovule development is blocked at different stages of development. Preliminary results will be presented.