BEN3/BIG2 ARF GEF is involved in brefeldin a-sensitive trafficking at the trans-Golgi network/early endosome in Arabidopsis thaliana

Membrane traffic at the trans-Golgi network (TGN) is crucial for correctly distributing various membrane proteins to their destination. Polarly localized auxin efflux proteins, including PIN-FORMED1 (PIN1), are dynamically transported between the endosomes and the plasma membrane (PM) in the plant cells. The intracellular trafficking of PIN1 protein is sensitive to a fungal toxin brefeldin A (BFA), which is known to inhibit guanine-nucleotide exchange factors for ADP ribosylation factors (ARF GEFs) such as GNOM. However, the molecular details of the BFA-sensitive trafficking pathway have not been revealed fully. In a previous study, we have identified an Arabidopsis mutant BFA-visualized endocytic trafficking defective 3 (ben3) which exhibited reduced sensitivity to BFA in terms of BFA-induced intracellular PIN1 agglomeration. Here, we show that BEN3 encodes a member of BIG family ARF GEFs, BIG2. Fluorescent proteins tagged BEN3/BIG2 co-localized with markers for TGN / early endosome (EE). Inspection of conditionally induced de novo synthesized PIN1 confirmed that its secretion to the PM is BFA-sensitive and established BEN3/BIG2 as a crucial component of this BFA action at the level of TGN/EE. Furthermore, ben3 mutation alleviated BFA-induced agglomeration of another TGN-localized ARF GEF BEN1/MIN7. Taken together our results suggest that BEN3/BIG2 is an ARF GEF component, which confers BFA sensitivity to the TGN/EE in Arabidopsis.