BinBin Ye / Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology (SIPPE)
Jia Wei Wang / Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology (SIPPE)
Age and wound are two major determinants for regeneration. In plants, the root regeneration is triggered by wound-induced auxin biosynthesis. As plants age, the root regenerative capacity is gradually decreased. How wound leads to the auxin burst and how age and wound collaboratively regulate root regenerative capacity are poorly understood. Here, we show that the increased level of a pair of miR156-targeted SPL transcription factors, SPL10 and SPL11, with age suppresses root regeneration by inhibiting wound-induced auxin biosynthesis. Mechanistically, we find that a subset of ERF transcription factors is rapidly induced by wound and serves as a proxy for wound signal to induce auxin biosynthesis. In older plants, SPL10/SPL11 directly bind to the promoters of ERFs and attenuate their induction by wound, thereby dampening auxin accumulation at the wound. Our results thus identify ERFs as a hub for integration of age and wound signal for root regeneration.