ŠIMÁŠKOVÁ, M., O'BRIEN, J.A., KHAN, M., VAN NOORDEN, G., ÖTVÖS, K., VIETEN, A., DE CLERCQ, E., VAN HAPEREN, J.M.A., CUESTA, C., HOYEROVÁ, Klára, VANNESTE, S., MARHAVÝ, P., WABNIK, K., VAN BREUSEGEM, F., NOWACK, M., MURPHY, A., FRIML, J., WEIJERS, D., BEECKMAN, T., BENKOVÁ, E. Cytokinin response factors regulate PIN-FORMED auxin transporters. Nature Communications. 2015, 6(NOV), 8717. ISSN 2041-1723. E-ISSN 2041-1723

Auxin and cytokinin are key endogenous regulators of plant development. Although cytokinin-mediated modulation of auxin distribution is a developmentally crucial hormonal interaction, its molecular basis is largely unknown. Here we show a direct regulatory link between cytokinin signalling and the auxin transport machinery uncovering a mechanistic framework for cytokinin-auxin cross-talk. We show that the CYTOKININ RESPONSE FACTORS (CRFs), transcription factors downstream of cytokinin perception, transcriptionally control genes encoding PIN-FORMED (PIN) auxin transporters at a specific PIN CYTOKININ RESPONSE ELEMENT (PCRE) domain. Removal of this cis-regulatory element effectively uncouples PIN transcription from the CRF-mediated cytokinin regulation and attenuates plant cytokinin sensitivity. We propose that CRFs represent a missing cross-talk component that fine-tunes auxin transport capacity downstream of cytokinin signalling to control plant development.