Mechanisms of Auxin Signalling Pathways in Plants: A Comprehensive Review
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21276/pt.2025.v2.i3.13Keywords:
Signalling pathway, genes, TIR1 and AFB, F-box, ARFAbstract
Auxin is considered the first phytohormone identified for its ability to induce apical growth in plants. Auxin is essential for initiating complex growth and developmental processes in nearly every plant species. Auxin is formed through metabolic processes and then transported to elongation zones, where it induces cell expansion. Auxin biosynthesis occurs primarily in the apical meristems of shoots, young leaves, and developing seeds, and is derived from the amino acid tryptophan. Auxin regulates numerous growth responses in plants, such as phototropism, geotropism, cell maintenance, and organ formation. To mediate these responses and their diverse functions, the nuclear auxin signalling pathway involves several key components. This modular structure allows this pathway to elicit diverse transcriptional responses depending on cellular and environmental conditions. This molecular process facilitates rapid transitions between gene repression and activation. This study outlines the contemporary paradigm of TIR1/AFB-dependent auxin signalling and highlights recent research breakthroughs.
References
Zhao Y. Auxin biosynthesis and its role in plant development. Annu Rev Plant Biol. 2010; 61: 49-64. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-arplant-042809-112308
De Smet I, Jürgens G. Patterning the embryo: a comparative view on signaling and pattern formation in plant embryogenesis. J Exp Bot. 2007; 58(15-16), 2939-2951. https://doi.org/10.1006/scdb.1997.0210
Dubey SM, Han S, Stutzman N, Prigge MJ, Medvecká E, Platre MP, Busch W, Fendrych M, Estelle M. The AFB1 auxin receptor controls the cytoplasmic auxin response pathway in Arabidopsis thaliana. Mol Plant. 2023; 16(7):1120-1130. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molp.2023.06.008
Guilfoyle TJ. (2015).The PB1 domain in auxin response factor and Aux/IAA proteins: a versatile protein interaction module in the auxin response. The Plant Cell. 2015; 27(1): 33–43. https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.114.132753
Simonini S, Deb J, Moubayidin L, Stephenson P, Valluru M, Freire-Rios A, Sorefan K, Weijers D, Friml J, Østergaard L. A noncanonical auxin-sensing mechanism is required for organ morphogenesis in Arabidopsis. Genes Dev. 2016; 30(20):2286-2296. https://doi.org/10.1101/gad.285361.116
Wang S, Hagen G, Guilfoyle TJ. ARF-Aux/IAA interactions through domain III/IV are not strictly required for auxin-responsive gene expression. Plant Signal Behav. 2013; 8(6):e24526. https://doi.org/10.4161/psb.24526
Fendrych M, Akhmanova M, Merrin J, Glanc M, Hagihara S, Takahashi K, Uchida N, Torii KU, Friml J. Rapid and reversible root growth inhibition by TIR1 auxin signalling. Nat Plants. 2018; 4(7):453-459. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-018-0190-1
Mockaitis K, Estelle M. Auxin receptors and plant development: a new signaling paradigm. Annu Rev Cell Dev Biol. 2008; 24:55-80. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.cellbio.23.090506.123214
Dindas J, Scherzer S, Roelfsema MRG, von Meyer K, Müller HM, Al-Rasheid KAS, Palme K, Dietrich P, Becker D, Bennett MJ, Hedrich R. AUX1-mediated root hair auxin influx governs SCFTIR1/AFB-type Ca2+ signaling. Nat Commun. 2018 Mar 21;9(1):1174. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-03582-5
Serre NBC, Kralík D, Yun P, Slouka Z, Shabala S, Fendrych M. AFB1 controls rapid auxin signalling through membrane depolarization in Arabidopsis thaliana root. Nat Plants. 2021; 7(9):1229-1238. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-021-00969-z
Qi L, Kwiatkowski M, Chen H, Hoermayer L, Sinclair S, Zou M, Del Genio CI, Kubeš MF, Napier R, Jaworski K, Friml J. Adenylate cyclase activity of TIR1/AFB auxin receptors in plants. Nature. 2022; 611(7934):133-138. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-053697
Wong A, Tian X, Yang Y, Gehring C. Adenylate cyclase activity of TIR1/AFB links cAMP to auxin-dependent responses. Mol Plant. 2022; 15(12):1838-1840. doi: 10.1016/j.molp.2022.11.012. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molp.2022.11.012
Taylor JS, Bargmann BOR. Transcriptional Tuning: How Auxin Strikes Unique Chords in Gene Regulation. Physiol Plant. 2025; 177(3):e70229. https://doi.org/10.1111/ppl.70229
Michalko J, Dravecká M, Bollenbach T, Friml J. Embryo-lethal phenotypes in early abp1 mutants are due to disruption of the neighboring BSM gene. F1000Res. 2015; 4:1104. https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.7143.1
Gao Y, Zhang Y, Zhang D, Dai X, Estelle M, Zhao Y. Auxin binding protein 1 (ABP1) is not required for either auxin signaling or Arabidopsis development. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2015; 112(7):2275-80. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1500365112
Friml J, Gallei M, Gelová Z, Johnson A, Mazur E, Monzer A, Rodriguez L, Roosjen M, Verstraeten I, Živanović BD, Zou M, Fiedler L, Giannini C, Grones P, Hrtyan M, Kaufmann WA, Kuhn A, Narasimhan M, Randuch M, Rýdza N, Takahashi K, Tan S, Teplova A, Kinoshita T, Weijers D, Rakusová H. ABP1-TMK auxin perception for global phosphorylation and auxin canalization. Nature. 2022; 609(7927):575-581. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-05187-x
Xu T, Dai N, Chen J, Nagawa S, Cao M, Li H, Zhou Z, Chen X, De Rycke R, Rakusová H, Wang W, Jones AM, Friml J, Patterson SE, Bleecker AB, Yang Z. Cell surface ABP1-TMK auxin-sensing complex activates ROP GTPase signaling. Science. 2014; 343(6174):1025-8. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1245125
Huibin Han, Inge Verstraeten, Mark Roosjen, Ewa Mazur, Nikola Rýdza, Jakub Hajný, Krisztina Ötvös, Dolf Weijers, Jiří Friml. Rapid auxin-mediated phosphorylation of Myosin regulates trafficking and polarity in Arabidopsis. bioRxiv 2021; 439603. https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.04.13.439603
Abu-Abied M, Belausov E, Hagay S, Peremyslov V, Dolja V, Sadot E. Myosin XI-K is involved in root organogenesis, polar auxin transport, and cell division. J Exp Bot. 2018; 69(12):2869-2881. https://doi.org/10.1093/jxb/ery112
Gomes GLB, Scortecci KC. Auxin and its role in plant development: structure, signalling, regulation and response mechanisms. Plant Biol (Stuttg). 2021; 23(6):894-904. https://doi.org/10.1111/plb.13303
Moubayidin L, Di Mambro R, Sabatini S. Cytokinin-auxin crosstalk. Trends Plant Sci. 2009; 14(10):557-62. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tplants.2009.06.010
Takatsuka H, Umeda M. Hormonal control of cell division and elongation along differentiation trajectories in roots. J Exp Bot. 2014; 65(10):2633-43. https://doi.org/10.1093/jxb/ert485
Vandenbussche F, Vancompernolle B, Rieu I, Ahmad M, Phillips A, Moritz T, Hedden P, Van Der Straeten D. Ethylene-induced Arabidopsis hypocotyl elongation is dependent on but not mediated by gibberellins. J Exp Bot. 2007; 58(15-16):4269-81. https://doi.org/10.1093/jxb/erm288
Van de Poel B, Smet D, Van Der Straeten D. Ethylene and Hormonal Cross Talk in Vegetative Growth and Development. Plant Physiol. 2015; 169(1):61-72. https://doi.org/10.1104/pp.15.00724
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Bilal Akhtar, Rajneesh Kumar Prajapati, Amit Kumar Singh (Author)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Copyright and License Terms
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain the copyright to their work and grant the journal the right of first publication. The work is simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License permitting others to share it with proper acknowledgement of the authorship and its original publication in this journal.
- Authors may enter into additional, non-exclusive agreements for distributing the published version of their work (e.g., depositing it in an institutional repository or including it in a book), provided they acknowledge that the work was first published in this journal.
Open Access Policy
License
PhytoTalks is an open-access journal, allowing readers to access all published articles without registration. All articles are distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC Attribution 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
License summary:
This license allows others to:
-
Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format
-
Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially
Under the following terms: -
Attribution — appropriate credit must be given, a link to the license provided, and indication if changes were made.
Author Warranties
By submitting a manuscript to PhytoTalks, authors confirm that:
-
The work is original and does not infringe any copyright, trademark, patent, or other rights of third parties.
-
The work has not been published elsewhere (except as a preprint) and is not under consideration by another publication.
-
All necessary permissions for any third-party materials used in the manuscript have been obtained.
Citation Policy
When using or citing articles from PhytoTalks, proper attribution must be given to the original authors and the source, including a DOI link where available.


![Announcement: Special Conference Issue of Phytotalks We are pleased to announce that Phytotalks will publish a special issue featuring select peer-reviewed papers from the Third International Conference on Plant Functional Biology, an esteemed international gathering of experts in Plant Science]. This special issue will highlight cutting-edge research and innovative developments presented at the conference, offering our readers valuable insights into the latest advancements in the field. Stay tuned for this upcoming edition, which reflects our continued commitment to showcasing high-quality, impactful research.](https://phytotalks.com/public/site/images/afrozalam/img-20250701-wa0010.jpg)

































