Auxin controls petal initiation in Arabidopsis

Floral organs are usually arranged in concentric whorls of sepals, petals, stamens and carpels. How founder cells of these organs are specified is unknown. In Arabidopsis, the PETAL LOSS (PTL) transcription factor functions in the sepal whorl, where it restricts the size of the inter-sepal zone. Genetic evidence suggests that PTL acts to support a petal initiation signal active in the adjacent whorl. Here we aimed to characterise the signal by identifying enhancers that disrupt initiation of the remaining petals in ptl mutants. One such enhancer encodes the auxin influx protein AUX1. We have established that auxin is a direct and mobile petal initiation signal by promoting its biosynthesis in the inter-sepal zone in ptl mutant plants and restoring nearby petal initiation. Consistent with this, loss of PTL function disrupts DR5 expression, an auxin-inducible indicator of petal-initiation sites. The signalling network was extended by demonstrating that: (1) loss of RABBIT EARS (RBE) function apparently disrupts the same auxin influx process as PTL; (2) the action of AUX1 is supported by AXR4, its upstream partner in auxin influx; (3) polar auxin transport, which is controlled by PINOID (PID) and PIN-FORMED1 (PIN1), functions downstream of PTL; and (4) the action of pmd-1d, a dominant modifier of the ptl mutant phenotype, is dependent on auxin transport. Thus, loss of PTL function disrupts auxin dynamics, allowing the role of auxin in promoting petal initiation to be revealed.