PIN-LIKES Coordinate Brassinosteroid Signaling with Nuclear Auxin Input in Arabidopsis thaliana

Auxin and brassinosteroids (BR) are crucial growth regulators and display overlapping functions during plant development. Here, we reveal an alternative phytohormone crosstalk mechanism, revealing that BR signaling controls PIN-LIKES (PILS)-dependent nuclear abundance of auxin. We performed a forward genetic screen for imperial pils (imp) mutants that enhance the overexpression phenotypes of PILS5 putative intracellular auxin transport facilitator. Here, we report that the imp1 mutant is defective in the BR-receptor BRASSINOSTEROID INSENSITIVE 1 (BRI1). Our set of data reveals that BR signaling transcriptionally and post-translationally represses the accumulation of PILS proteins at the endoplasmic reticulum, thereby increasing nuclear abundance and signaling of auxin. We demonstrate that this alternative phytohormonal crosstalk mechanism integrates BR signaling into auxin-dependent organ growth rates and likely has widespread importance for plant development.