Interplay of auxin and MEcPP regulates adaptive growth (Nature Comms)

MEcPP, methylerythritol cyclophosphate, is an essential bifunctional plastidial metabolite that serves as a precursor of isoprenoids and is produced by the plastidial methylerythritol phosphate (MEP) pathway. Jiang et al. demonstrated that MEcPP controls adaptive growth by regulating auxin responses at transcriptional and post-transcriptional stages. They used the ceh1 (constitutively expression HPL) mutant, which accumulates MEcPP and has a stunted growth phenotype, along with inducible MEcPP-accumulating lines, and a combination of MEP pathway inhibitors to show the link with auxin homeostasis. ceh1 shows reduced hypocotyl length, lower level of endogenous auxin, and reduced expression of PIN1, YUC3 and YUC5. Taken together, this article establishes the interconnection between auxin and MEcPP from the molecular perspective. (Summary by Arif Ashraf) Nature Comms. 10.1038/s41467-018-04708-5