Narciclasine (NCS), an Amaryllidaceae alkaloid isolated from Narcissus tazetta bulbs, has potential allelopathic activity and affects auxin transport. However, little is known about the cellular mechanism of this inhibitory effect of NCS on auxin transport. The present study characterizes the effects of NCS at the cellular level using transgenic Arabidopsis plants harboring the promoters of PIN, in combination with PIN-GFP proteins or AUX1-YFP fusions. NCS treatment caused significant reduction in the abundance of PIN and AUX1 proteins at the plasma membrane (PM). Analysis of the subcellular distribution of PIN and AUX1 proteins in roots revealed that NCS induced the intracellular accumulation of auxin transporters, including PIN2, PIN3, PIN4, PIN7 and AUX1. However, other PM proteins, such as PIP2, BRI1, and low temperature inducible protein 6b (LTI6b), were insensitive to NCS treatment.
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