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Date

2016-09-29

Journal Title

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PLos Genetics
Creative Commons
Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as Attribution 3.0 United States

Author Summary Light perception is critically important for the fitness of plants in both natural and agricultural settings. Plants not only use light for photosynthesis, but also as a cue for proper development. As a seedling emerges from soil it must determine the light environment and adopt an appropriate growth habit. When blue and red wavelengths are the dominant sources of light, plants will undergo photomorphogenesis. Photomorphogenesis describes a number of developmental responses initiated by light in a seedling, and includes shortened stems and establishing the ability to photosynthesize. The genes regulating photomorphogenesis have been studied extensively, but a complete picture remains elusive. Here we describe the finding that NUCLEAR FACTOR-Y (NF-Y) genes are positive regulators of photomorphogenesis—i.e., in plants where NF-Y genes are mutated, they display some characteristics of dark grown plants, even though they are in the light. Our data suggests that the roles of NF-Y genes in light perception do not fit in easily with those of other described pathways. Thus, studying these genes promises to help develop a more complete picture of how light drives plant development.

Description

We thank Dr. Ben Smith (University of Oklahoma) for assistance with FLIM-FRET measurements and Dr. Min Ni (University of Minnesota) for critical reading of the manuscript. The cop1-4 mutant allele and cop1-4 co-9 cross were kindly provided by George Coupland (Max Planck Institute).

Keywords

Hypocotyl,Transcription factors,Phenotypes,Gene expression,Seedlings,Fluorescence recovery after photobleaching,Photomorphogenesis,Yellow fluorescent protein

Citation

Myers ZA, Kumimoto RW, Siriwardana CL, Gayler KK, Risinger JR, Pezzetta D, et al. (2016) NUCLEAR FACTOR Y, Subunit C (NF-YC) Transcription Factors Are Positive Regulators of Photomorphogenesis in Arabidopsis thaliana. PLoS Genet 12(9): e1006333. doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.1006333

Related file

http://www.plosgenetics.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pgen.1006333

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