TOR Tour to Auxin

    March 2013 in “ EMBO journal ”
    László Bögre, Rossana Henriques, Zoltán Magyar
    TLDR The plant hormone auxin activates the TOR pathway, affecting gene expression related to growth and cell size.
    The study by Schepetilnikov et al. (2013) revealed that the plant hormone auxin activates the TARGET OF RAPAMYCIN (TOR) pathway, which in turn regulates the translation of auxin-responsive genes. This process involves the phosphorylation and activation of the ribosomal S6 kinase (S6K) by TOR, facilitating the translation reinitiation of mRNAs with upstream open reading frames (uORFs) in their 5′ untranslated regions (5′ UTRs). This mechanism links auxin signaling with nutrient signaling, influencing plant growth and development by controlling the balance between cell enlargement and cell proliferation. The findings highlighted the role of TOR in integrating auxin and nutrient signals to modulate selective protein translation, crucial for directional growth and cellular responses to environmental stimuli.
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