Different Plant Hormones Regulate Similar Processes through Largely Nonoverlapping Transcriptional Responses

Abstract

Small-molecule hormones govern every aspect of the biology of plants. Many processes, such as growth, are regulated in similar ways by multiple hormones, and recent studies have revealed extensive crosstalk among different hormonal signaling pathways. These results have led to the proposal that a common set of signaling components may integrate inputs from multiple hormones to regulate growth. In this study, we tested this proposal by asking whether different hormones converge on a common set of transcriptional targets in Arabidopsis seedlings. Using publicly available microarray data, we analyzed the transcriptional effects of seven hormones, including abscisic acid, gibberellin, auxin, ethylene, cytokinin, brassinosteroid, and jasmonate. A high-sensitivity analysis revealed a surprisingly low number of common target genes. Instead, different hormones appear to regulate distinct members of protein families. We conclude that there is not a core transcriptional growth-regulatory module in young Arabidopsis seedlings.