Control of plant organ size by KLUH/CYP78A5-dependent intercellular signaling

Abstract

Plant organs grow to characteristic sizes that are genetically controlled. In animals, signaling by mobile growth factors is thought to be an effective mechanism for measuring primordium size, yet how plants gauge organ size is unclear. Here, we identify the Arabidopsis cytochrome P450 KLUH (KLU)/CYP78A5 as a stimulator of plant organ growth. While klu loss-of-function mutants form smaller organs because of a premature arrest of cell proliferation, KLU overexpression leads to larger organs with more cells. KLU promotes organ growth in a non-cell-autonomous manner, yet it does not appear to modulate the levels of known phytohormones. We therefore propose that KLU is involved in generating a mobile growth signal distinct from the classical phytohormones. The expression dynamics of KLU suggest a model of how the arrest of cell proliferation is coupled to the attainment of a certain primordium size, implying a common principle of size measurement in plants and animals.