The changes in the activity of peroxidase (POD) extracted from the cell wall and the level of H(2)O(2) of rice seedling roots treated with abscisic acid (ABA) and their correlation with root growth were investigated. Increasing concentrations of ABA from 3 to 18 µM progressively reduce root growth and increase POD activities (using guaiacol or ferulic acid as a substrate) extracted from the cel...

Sucrose nonfermenting-1 (SNF1)-related protein kinases (SnRKs) form a major family of signalling proteins in plants and have been associated with metabolic regulation and stress responses. They comprise three subfamilies: SnRK1, SnRK2, and SnRK3. SnRK1 plays a major role in the regulation of carbon metabolism and energy status, while SnRKs 2 and 3 have been implicated in stress and abscisic aci...

Previously, a bZIP transcription factor from Tamarix hispida, ThbZIP1, was characterized: plants overexpressing ThbZIP1 displayed improved salt stress tolerance but were sensitive to abscisic acid (ABA). In the current study, we further characterized the regulatory network of ThbZIP1 and the mechanism of ABA sensitivity mediated by ThbZIP1. An ABF transcription factor from T. hispida, ThABF1, d...

Abscisic acid (ABA) is a plant hormone that regulates plant growth as well as stress responses. In this study, we identified and characterized a new Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) protein, Nuclear Protein X1 (NPX1), which was up-regulated by stress and treatment with exogenous ABA. Stomatal closure, seed germination, and primary root growth are well-known ABA responses that were less sensit...

In guard cells of open stomata under daylight, long actin filaments are arranged at the cortex, radiating out from the stomatal pore. Abscisic acid (ABA), a signal for stomatal closure, induces rapid depolymerization of cortical actin filaments and the slower formation of a new type of actin that is randomly oriented throughout the cell. This change in actin organization has been suggested to b...

Abscisic acid (ABA) regulates seed maturation, germination and various stress responses in plants. The roles of ABA in cellular growth and morphogenesis, however, remain to be explored. Here, we report that ABA induces the ectopic outgrowth of epidermal cells in Arabidopsis thaliana. Seedlings of A. thaliana germinated and grown in the presence of ABA developed ectopic protrusions in the epider...

Dark-induced growth (skotomorphogenesis) is primarily characterized by rapid elongation of the hypocotyl. We have studied the role of abscisic acid (ABA) during the development of young tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) seedlings. We observed that ABA deficiency caused a reduction in hypocotyl growth at the level of cell elongation and that the growth in ABA-deficient plants could be improved by...

Plant hormones have become appropriate candidates for driving functional plant mycorrhization programs, including the processes that regulate the formation of arbuscules in arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) symbiosis. Here, we examine the role played by ABA/GA interactions regulating the formation of AM in tomato. We report differences in ABA and GA metabolism between control and mycorrhizal roots. A...

Abscisic acid (ABA) was quantitated by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in water-stressed leaves from control apple seedlings, and also from apple seedlings treated for 28 days with paclobutrazol ([2RS, 3RS]-1-[4-chlorophenyl]-4,4-dimethyl-2-[1,2,4-triazol-1-yl] pentan-3-ol). The ELISA quantitative estimates were also validated by gas chromatography-electron capture detector and lettuc...

Abscisic acid (ABA) mediates resistance to abiotic stress and controls developmental processes in plants. The group-A PP2Cs, of which ABI1 is the prototypical member, are protein phosphatases that play critical roles as negative regulators very early in ABA signal transduction. Because redundancy is thought to limit the genetic dissection of early ABA signalling, to identify redundant and early...