Abstract
Griseofulvin was considered an effective agent for cancer therapy in past decades. Although the negative effects of griseofulvin on microtubule stability are known, the exact target and mechanism of action in plants remain unclear. Here, we used trifluralin, a well-known herbicide targeting microtubules, as a reference and revealed the differences in root tip morphology, reactive oxygen species production (ROS), microtubule dynamics, and transcriptome analysis between Arabidopsis treated with griseofulvin and trifluralin to elucidate the mechanism of root growth inhibition by griseofulvin. Like trifluralin, griseofulvin inhibited root growth and caused significant swelling of the root tip due to cell death induced by ROS. However, the presence of griseofulvin and trifluralin caused cell swelling in the transition zone (TZ) and meristematic zone (MZ) of root tips, respectively. Further observations revealed that griseofulvin first destroyed cortical microtubules in the cells of the TZ and early elongation zone (EZ) and then gradually affected the cells of other zones. The first target of trifluralin is the microtubules in the root MZ cells. Transcriptome analysis showed that griseofulvin mainly affected the expression of microtubule-associated protein (MAP) genes rather than tubulin genes, whereas trifluralin significantly suppressed the expression of αβ-tubulin genes. Finally, it was proposed that griseofulvin could first reduce the expression of MAP genes, meanwhile increasing the expression of auxin and ethylene-related genes to disrupt microtubule alignment in root tip TZ and early EZ cells, induce dramatic ROS production, and cause severe cell death, eventually leading to cell swelling in the corresponding zones and inhibition of root growth.
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Claims 8
Claim · model-written summary
Griseofulvin inhibited Arabidopsis root growth.
- Taxon
- Arabidopsis
Arabidopsist0 - Treatment
- griseofulvine0
- Outcome
- root growthe0
- Direction
- inhibitede0
- Comparator
- trifluraline0
Not reportedValue
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Like trifluralin, griseofulvin inhibited root growth and caused significant swelling of the root tip due to cell death induced by ROS”
t0“Arabidopsis”
Claim · model-written summary
Griseofulvin caused significant root tip swelling associated with ROS-induced cell death.
- Taxon
- ArabidopsisArabidopsist0
- Treatment
- griseofulvine0
- Outcome
- swelling of the root tipe0
- Direction
- swellinge0
- Comparator
- trifluraline0
Not reportedValue
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Like trifluralin, griseofulvin inhibited root growth and caused significant swelling of the root tip due to cell death induced by ROS”
t0“Arabidopsis”
Claim · model-written summary
Griseofulvin caused swelling in the transition zone of root tips.
- Taxon
- ArabidopsisArabidopsist0
- Organ / stage
- transition zone (TZ)e0
- Treatment
- griseofulvine0
- Outcome
- cell swellinge0
- Direction
- swellinge0
- Comparator
- trifluraline0
Not reportedValue
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“the presence of griseofulvin and trifluralin caused cell swelling in the transition zone (TZ) and meristematic zone (MZ) of root tips, respectively”
t0“Arabidopsis”
Claim · model-written summary
Trifluralin caused swelling in the meristematic zone of root tips.
- Taxon
- ArabidopsisArabidopsist0
- Organ / stage
- meristematic zone (MZ)e0
- Treatment
- trifluraline0
- Outcome
- cell swellinge0
- Direction
- swellinge0
- Comparator
- griseofulvine0
Not reportedValue
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“the presence of griseofulvin and trifluralin caused cell swelling in the transition zone (TZ) and meristematic zone (MZ) of root tips, respectively”
t0“Arabidopsis”
Claim · model-written summary
Griseofulvin first destroyed cortical microtubules in transition and early elongation zones.
- Taxon
- ArabidopsisArabidopsist0
- Organ / stage
- TZ and early elongation zone (EZ)e0
- Treatment
- griseofulvine0
- Outcome
- cortical microtubulese0
- Direction
- destroyede0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“griseofulvin first destroyed cortical microtubules in the cells of the TZ and early elongation zone (EZ) and then gradually affected the cells of other zones”
t0“Arabidopsis”
Claim · model-written summary
Trifluralin first targeted microtubules in meristematic root cells.
- Taxon
- ArabidopsisArabidopsist0
- Organ / stage
- root MZ cellse0
- Treatment
- trifluraline0
- Outcome
- microtubulese0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“The first target of trifluralin is the microtubules in the root MZ cells”
t0“Arabidopsis”
Claim · model-written summary
Griseofulvin mainly affected expression of microtubule-associated protein genes rather than tubulin genes.
- Taxon
- ArabidopsisArabidopsist0
- Treatment
- griseofulvine0
- Gene
- microtubule-associated protein (MAP) genese0
- Outcome
- expression of microtubule-associated protein (MAP) genese0
- Comparator
- tubulin genese0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“griseofulvin mainly affected the expression of microtubule-associated protein (MAP) genes rather than tubulin genes”
t0“Arabidopsis”
Claim · model-written summary
Trifluralin significantly suppressed αβ-tubulin gene expression.
- Taxon
- ArabidopsisArabidopsist0
- Treatment
- trifluraline0
- Gene
- αβ-tubulin genese0
- Outcome
- expression of αβ-tubulin genese0
- Direction
- suppressede0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“trifluralin significantly suppressed the expression of αβ-tubulin genes”
t0“Arabidopsis”