Divergence of trafficking and polarity mechanisms for PIN auxin transporters during land plant evolution

The phytohormone auxin and its directional transport through tissues play a fundamental role in development of higher plants. This polar auxin transport predominantly relies on PIN-FORMED (PIN) auxin exporters. Hence, PIN polarization is crucial for development, but its evolution during the rise of morphological complexity in land plants remains unclear. Here, we performed a cross-species investigation by observing the trafficking and localization of endogenous and xenologous PINs in two bryophytes, Physcomitrium patens and Marchantia polymorpha, and in the flowering plant Arabidopsis thaliana. We confirmed that the GFP fusion did not compromise the auxin export function of all examined PINs by using radioactive auxin export assay and by observing the phenotypic changes in transgenic bryophytes. Endogenous PINs polarize to filamentous apices, while xenologous Arabidopsis PINs distribute symmetrically on the membrane in both bryophytes. In Arabidopsis root epidermis, bryophytic PINs show no defined polarity. Pharmacological interference revealed a strong cytoskeleton dependence of bryophytic but not Arabidopsis PIN polarization. The divergence of PIN polarization and trafficking is also observed within the bryophyte clade and between tissues in individual species. These results collectively reveal a divergence of PIN trafficking and polarity mechanisms throughout land plant evolution and a co-evolution of PIN sequence-based and cell-based polarity mechanisms.