Soil compaction represents a major agronomic challenge, inhibiting root elongation and impacting crop yields. Roots use ethylene to sense soil compaction as the restricted air space causes this gaseous signal to accumulate around root tips. Ethylene inhibits root elongation and promotes radial expansion in compacted soil, but its mechanistic basis remains unclear. Here, we report that ethylene promotes abscisic acid (ABA) biosynthesis and cortical cell radial expansion. Rice mutants of ABA biosynthetic genes had attenuated cortical cell radial expansion in compacted soil, leading to better penetration. Soil compaction-induced ethylene also up-regulates the auxin biosynthesis gene OsYUC8. Mutants lacking OsYUC8 are better able to penetrate compacted soil. The auxin influx transporter OsAUX1 is also required to mobilize auxin from the root tip to the elongation zone during a root compaction response. Moreover, osaux1 mutants penetrate compacted soil better than the wild-type roots and do not exhibit cortical cell radial expansion. We conclude that ethylene uses auxin and ABA as downstream signals to modify rice root cell elongation and radial expansion, causing root tips to swell and reducing their ability to penetrate compacted soil.

Biotechnology Research Institute Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences Beijing 100081 China

Centre for Crop Systems Analysis Wageningen University and Research Wageningen The Netherlands

CIBSS Centre for Integrative Biological Signalling Studies University of Freiburg 79104 Freiburg Germany

Division of Plant Science and Technology and Interdisciplinary Plant Group University of Missouri Columbia MO 65211

Future Food Beacon and School of Biosciences University of Nottingham LE12 5RD United Kingdom

Joint International Research Laboratory of Metabolic and Developmental Sciences State Key Laboratory of Hybrid Rice SJTU University of Adelaide Joint Centre for Agriculture and Health School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology Shanghai Jiao Tong University Shanghai China

Laboratory of Growth Regulators Institute of Experimental Botany of the Czech Academy of Sciences and Faculty of Science of Palacký University CZ 78371 Olomouc Czech Republic

Lancaster Environment Centre Lancaster University Lancaster United Kingdom

Plant Environmental Signalling and Development Faculty of Biology University of Freiburg 79104 Freiburg Germany

School of Agriculture Food and Wine University of Adelaide Waite Campus Urrbrae SA Australia

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