Phenotypic screening of Arabidopsis T-DNA insertion lines for cell wall mechanical properties revealed ANTHOCYANINLESS2, a cell wall-related gene

We performed a phenotypic screening of confirmed homozygous T-DNA insertion lines in Arabidopsis for cell wall extensibility, in an attempt to identify genes involved in the regulation of cell wall mechanical properties. Seedlings of each line were cultivated and the cell wall extensibility of their hypocotyls was measured with a tensile tester. Hypocotyls of lines with known cell wall-related genes showed higher or lower extensibility than those of the wild-type at high frequency, indicating that the protocol used was effective. In the first round of screening of randomly selected T-DNA insertion lines, we identified ANTHOCYANINLESS2 (ANL2), a gene involved in the regulation of cell wall mechanical properties. In the anl2 mutant, the cell wall extensibility of hypocotyls was significantly lower than that of the wild-type. Levels of cell wall polysaccharides per hypocotyl, particularly cellulose, increased in anl2. Microarray analysis showed that in anl2, expression levels of the major peroxidase genes also increased. Moreover, the activity of ionically wall-bound peroxidases clearly increased in anl2. The activation of peroxidases as well as the accumulation of cell wall polysaccharides may be involved in decreased cell wall extensibility. The approach employed in the present study could contribute to our understanding of the mechanisms underlying the regulation of cell wall mechanical properties.