PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Javier Mora-Macías AU - Jonathan Odilón Ojeda-Rivera AU - Dolores Gutiérrez-Alanís AU - Lenin Yong-Villalobos AU - Araceli Oropeza-Aburto AU - Javier Raya González AU - Gabriel Jiménez-Domínguez AU - Gabriela Chávez-Calvillo AU - Rubén Rellán-Álvarez AU - Luis Herrera-Estrella TI - Malate-dependent Fe accumulation is a critical checkpoint in the root developmental response to low phosphate AID - 10.1101/095497 DP - 2016 Jan 01 TA - bioRxiv PG - 095497 4099 - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2016/12/19/095497.short 4100 - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2016/12/19/095497.full AB - Low phosphate (Pi) availability constrains plant development and crop production in both natural and agricultural ecosystems. When Pi is scarce, modifications of root system architecture (RSA) enhance soil exploration ability and can lead to an increase in Pi uptake. In Arabidopsis, an iron-dependent determinate developmental program that induces premature differentiation in the root apical meristem (RAM) begins when the root tip contacts low Pi media, resulting in a short-root phenotype. However, the mechanisms that enable the regulation of root growth in response to Pi-limiting conditions remain largely unknown. Cellular, genomic and transcriptomic analysis of low-Pi insensitive mutants revealed that the malate-exudation related genes SENSITIVE TO PROTON RHIZOTOXICITY (STOP1) and ALUMINUM ACTIVATED MALATE TRANSPORTER 1 (ALMT1) represent a critical checkpoint in the root developmental response to Pi starvation in Arabidopsis thaliana.