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JXB Advance Access published online on February 17, 2006
Journal of Experimental Botany, doi:10.1093/jxb/erj080
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© The Author [2006]. Published by Oxford University Press [on behalf of the Society for Experimental Biology]. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org
Received August 4, 2005
Accepted November 30, 2005

RESEARCH PAPER

Identification of dominant mutations that confer increased aluminium tolerance through mutagenesis of the Al-sensitive Arabidopsis mutant, als3-1

Kelly M. Gabrielson 1, Jesse D. Cancel 1, Luis F. Morua 1, and Paul B. Larsen 1 *

1 Department of Biochemistry, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521, USA

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Paul B. Larsen, E-mail: paul.larsen{at}ucr.edu


  Abstract

Aluminium (Al) toxicity is a global agricultural problem that occurs in acid soil environments and severely limits root growth and crop productivity. The isolation and characterization of a gene, ALS3, which is absolutely required by Arabidopsis seedlings for growth in an Al-toxic environment was reported previously. Since the als3-1 loss-of-function mutant has extreme root growth inhibition even in the presence of very low levels of Al, it was an excellent candidate for using a mutagenesis approach to identify suppressor mutations that would increase either Al resistance or tolerance in Arabidopsis roots. EMS-mutagenized als3-1 seedlings were screened for mutants that could sustain root growth in an Al-containing environment that is highly toxic to als3-1 but not Col-0 wt. This approach resulted in identification of 12 strong suppressor mutants that reversed the als3-1 phenotype and grew as well or better than Col-0 wt in the presence of high levels of Al. Subsequent analysis of three representative suppressor mutants revealed that the phenotype of each probably arises from dominant gain-of-function mutations at the same locus. Detailed analysis of one of these, alt1-1 (Al tolerant), suggests that this mutation positively impacts Al resistance in a manner dependent on pH adjustment rather than enhanced Al exclusion. Identification of these suppressor mutations, should not only further elucidate the biochemical and molecular mechanisms underlying Al toxicity and tolerance but also will develop a collection of mutations that may be useful for engineering crop plants that can grow and thrive in Al-toxic environments.

Keywords: ALS3; alt; aluminium; aluminum; Arabidopsis; root.
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