Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are versatile molecules mediating a variety of cellular responses in plant cells, including programmed cell death (PCD), development, gravitropism, and hormone signaling. A picture showing how ROS function in signal transduction networks has started to emerge as the result of recent studies providing genetic, cell biological, and physiological evidence describing roles for ROS in signaling (Apel and Hirt, 2004;Laloi et al., 2004;Mittler et al., 2004;Mori and Schroeder, 2004). However, further efforts are necessary to characterize the targets and molecular functions of ROS, as well as the complex interplay of ROS-generating and ROSscavenging mechanisms. Moreover, the interactions of nitric oxide with other ROS species in hormone signaling is a subject of interest (Desikan et al., 2004;Wendehenne et al., 2004;Guo and Crawford, 2005;Bright et al., 2006). Due to limited space, in this Update article we focus on recent progress made in understanding the roles of ROS in hormone signaling.
AUXIN, ETHYLENE, AND ROSROS have been implicated as second messengers in several plant hormone responses. Joo et al. (2001) showed that ROS are asymmetrically generated in roots by gravistimulation to regions of reduced growth. A function for ROS in root curvature was reported by inhibiting cell growth, thus contributing to tropisms. Auxin also induced ROS production in roots and the auxin transport inhibitor N-1-naphthylphthlamic acid did not inhibit hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 )-induced root curvature, leading to the suggestion that ROS play a role downstream of transport in auxin signaling and gravitropism (Joo et al., 2001).A pharmacological study suggested that ethylene and ROS are required for root nodule initiation and function as positive transducers downstream of the Nod factor response in a semiaquatic legume (D'Haeze et al., 2003). Additional studies have suggested roles of ethylene in either stomatal opening or closing, depending on the plant species (Giulivo, 1986). Recently, it was reported that H 2 O 2 -mediated stomatal closure is completely disrupted in the loss-of-function mutant of the ethylene receptor etr1-7, suggesting a role for ETR1 in guard cell ROS signaling and stomatal closure (Desikan et al., 2005). Interestingly, in another recent study, ethylene was proposed to counteract stomatal closure (Tanaka et al., 2005). Abscisic acid (ABA)-induced stomatal closure was inhibited by ethylene or the hormone precursor 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid and by the ethylene-overproducing mutation eto1-1 (Tanaka et al., 2005). Moreover, this ethylene-induced inhibition of stomatal closure was suppressed in two ethylene-insensitive mutants, the dominant etr1-1 allele, and ein3-1 (Tanaka et al., 2005). Reverse transcription-PCR analysis with guard cellenriched epidermal strips showed that ETR1 is expressed in guard cells (Desikan et al., 2005). ATH1 and AG oligonucleotide-based (Affymetrix) microarray analyses of guard cell-expressed genes suggest that at least the ETR1, ERS1, and EIN4 eth...