BYPASS1: how a tiny mutant tells a big story about root-to-shoot signaling

Plants coordinate their development using long-distance signaling. The vascular system provides a route for long-distance movement, and specifically the xylem for root-to-shoot signaling. Root-to-shoot signals play roles communicating soil conditions, and these signals are important for agricultural water conservation. Using genetic approaches, the Arabidopsis bypass1 (bps1) mutant, which over-produces a root-derived signal, was identified. Although bps1 mutants have both root and shoot defects, the shoot can develop normally if the roots are removed, and the mutant root is sufficient to induce arrest of the wild-type shoot. BYPASS1 encodes a protein with no functionally characterized domains, and BPS1-like genes are found in plant genomes, but not the genomes of animals. Analyses of hormone pathways indicate that the mobile compound that arises in bps1 roots requires carotenoid biosynthesis, but it is neither abscisic acid nor strigolactone. The current model suggests that BPS1 is required to prevent the synthesis of a novel substance that moves from the root to the shoot, where it modifies shoot growth by interfering with auxin signaling.