Indolyl-3-butyric acid-induced Arabidopsis stomatal opening mediated by 3′,5′-cyclic guanosine-monophosphate

It has been pharmacologically suggested that 3′,5′-cyclic guanosine-monophosphate (cGMP) mediates indolyl-3-butyric acid (IBA)-induced stomatal opening. In Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh., such investigations compared the wild type (Columbia and Ws ecotypes) to mutants knockout for either GTP-binding protein (G protein) α subunit 1 (gpa1-4), putative G protein-coupled receptor 1 (gcr1-5), calcineurin B-like isoform 1 (cbl1) or 9 (cbl9), or the NADPH oxidases AtrbohD and AtrbohF (atrbohD/F). Stomatal opening to IBA or the permeant cGMP analogue, 8-bromo-cGMP (8-Br-cGMP) was abolished in the atrbohD/F mutant. The IBA response was fully or partially suppressed, respectively, in the gcr1-5 mutant, or the gpa1-4 and cbl1 mutants. In the cbl9 mutant, the response to IBA or 8-Br-cGMP, respectively, was partially or fully suppressed. Phenylarsine oxide (PAO) affected the IBA response, which the cbl1 mutant overlapped or the gpa1-4 and cbl9 mutants increased up to 100% inhibition. 6-anilino-5,8-quinolinedione, mas17, the (Rp)-diastereomer of 8-bromo-3′,5′-cyclic guanosine monophosphorothioate (Rp-8-Br-cGMPS), nicotinamide, ruthenium red (RRed), 1,2-bis(o-aminophenoxy)ethane-N,N,N′,N′-tetraacetic acid (BAPTA), cyclosporine A (CsA) and FK506 converged to affect the IBA response, which the gpa1-4 and cbl9 mutants overlapped or the cbl1 mutant and PAO increased up to 100% inhibition. Rp-8-Br-cGMPS, nicotinamide, RRed, BAPTA, CsA or FK506 paralled the cbl9 and atrbohD/F mutants to abolish the 8-Br-cGMP response. Based on so far revealed features of these mutants and pharmacological compounds, these results confirmed cGMP as a Ca2+-mobilizing second messenger for apoplastic auxin whose perception and transduction would implicate a seven-transmembrane receptor – G protein – guanylyl cyclase unit at the guard cell plasma membrane.