Effects of eATP on Arabidopsis root hair growth
Noel Wat · Texas ScholarWorks (Texas Digital Library) · 2017
Recent research has suggested that ATP may not only serve as an energy storage molecule, but when present outside of the cell, can also serve as a growth regulator in plants. This project describes a study on the signal transduction pathway by which extracellular ATP (eATP) influences root hair growth in Arabidopsis thaliana. High concentrations of ATPgS or ADPbS (greater than or equal to 150 μM) can inhibit root hair growth, while low concentrations of ATPgS or ADPbS (15-30 μM) will promote growth when the root hairs are pre-washed. The hairs are washed to remove endogenous levels of eATP. This may hint that there is an optimal concentration of eATP needed for root hair growth. Additionally, ectoapyrases, which regulate the concentration of extracellular nucleotides, can be chemically inhibited to reduce root hair growth.