The Story of Auxin-Binding Protein 1 (ABP1)

The auxin-binding protein 1 (ABP1) has endured a history of undulating prominence as a candidate receptor for this important phytohormone. Its capacity for binding auxin has not been in doubt, a feature adequately explained by its crystal structure, but any relevance of this to auxin signaling and plant development has been far more demanding to define. Over its research lifetime, it has been associated with many auxin-induced activities, including ion fluxes across the plasma membrane, rearrangement of the cytoskeleton and cell shape, and the abundance of PIN proteins at the plasma membrane via control of endocytosis, all of which required its presence in the apoplast. Yet, ABP1 has a KDEL sequence that targets it to the endoplasmic reticulum, where most of it remains. This mismatch has been more than adequately compensated for by the need for an auxin receptor to account for responses far too rapid to be executed through transcription and translation and the TIR1/AuxIAA coreceptor system. However, discoveries showing that abp1-null mutants are not compromised for auxin signaling or development, that TIR1 or AFB1 are necessarily involved with very rapid responses at the plasma membrane, and that these rapid responses are mediated with intracellular auxin all suggest that ABP1's auxin-binding capacity is not physiologically relevant. Nevertheless, ABP1 is ubiquitous in higher plants and throughout plant tissues. We need to complete its history by defining its function inside plant cells.