The α Aurora kinases function in vascular development in Arabidopsis.

The Aurora kinases are serine/threonine kinases with conserved functions in mitotic cell division in eukaryotes. In Arabidopsis, Aurora kinases play important roles in primary meristem maintenance, but their functions in vascular development are still elusive. We report a dominant xdi-d mutant showing xylem development inhibition (XDI) phenotype. Gene identification and transgenic over-expression experiments indicated that the activation of the Arabidopsis Aurora 2 (AtAUR2) gene is responsible for the XDI phenotype. In contrast, the aur1-2aur2-2 double mutant plants showed enhanced differentiation of phloem and xylem cells, indicating the Aurora kinases negatively affect xylem differentiation. The transcripts levels of key regulatory genes in vascular cell differentiation, i.e. ALTERED PHLOEM DEVELOPMENT (APL), VASCULAR-RELATED NAC-DOMAIN 6 (VND6) and VND7, were higher in the aur1-2 aur2-2 double mutant and lower in xdi-d mutants compared to those of the wild type plants, further support the functions of α Aurora kinases in vascular development. Gene mutagenesis and transgenic studies showed that protein phosphorylation and substrate binding, but not protein dimerization and ubiquitination, are critical for the biological function of AtAUR2. These results indicate that α Aurora kinases play key roles in vascular cell differentiation in Arabidopsis.