TY - JOUR A1 - Andrade, Luis A1 - Lu, Yunlong A1 - Cordeiro, Andre A1 - Costa, João M. F. A1 - Wigge, Philip Anthony A1 - Saibo, Nelson J. M. A1 - Jaeger, Katja E. T1 - The evening complex integrates photoperiod signals to control flowering in rice JF - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America : PNAS N2 - Plants use photoperiodism to activate flowering in response to a particular daylength. In rice, flowering is accelerated in short-day conditions, and even a brief exposure to light during the dark period (night-break) is sufficient to delay flowering. Although many of the genes involved in controlling flowering in rice have been uncovered, how the long- and short-day flowering pathways are integrated, and the mechanism of photoperiod perception is not understood. While many of the signaling components controlling photoperiod-activated flowering are conserved between Arabidopsis and rice, flowering in these two systems is activated by opposite photoperiods. Here we establish that photoperiodism in rice is controlled by the evening complex (EC). We show that mutants in the EC genes LUX ARRYTHMO (LUX) and EARLY FLOWERING3 (ELF3) paralogs abolish rice flowering. We also show that the EC directly binds and suppresses the expression of flowering repressors, including PRR37 and Ghd7. We further demonstrate that light acts via phyB to cause a rapid and sustained posttranslational modification of ELF3-1. Our results suggest a mechanism by which the EC is able to control both long- and short-day flowering pathways. KW - rice KW - flowering KW - ELF3 KW - LUX KW - Evening Complex Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2122582119 SN - 0027-8424 SN - 1091-6490 VL - 119 IS - 26 PB - National Acad. of Sciences CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Delker, Carolin A1 - Quint, Marcel A1 - Wigge, Philip Anthony T1 - Recent advances in understanding thermomorphogenesis signaling JF - Current opinion in plant biology N2 - Plants show remarkable phenotypic plasticity and are able to adjust their morphology and development to diverse environmental stimuli. Morphological acclimation responses to elevated ambient temperatures are collectively termed thermomorphogenesis. In Arabidopsis thaliana, morphological changes are coordinated to a large extent by the transcription factor PHYTOCHROME-INTERACTING FACTOR 4 (PIF4), which in turn is regulated by several thermosensing mechanisms and modulators. Here, we review recent advances in the identification of factors that regulate thermomorphogenesis of Arabidopsis seedlings by affecting PIF4 expression and PIF4 activity. We summarize newly identified thermosensing mechanisms and highlight work on the emerging topic of organ- and tissue-specificity in the regulation of thermomorphogenesis. Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pbi.2022.102231 SN - 1369-5266 SN - 1879-0356 VL - 68 PB - Elsevier CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Cordeiro, Andre M. A1 - Andrade, Luis A1 - Monteiro, Catarina C. A1 - Leitao, Guilherme A1 - Wigge, Philip Anthony A1 - Saibo, Nelson J. M. T1 - Phytochrome-interacting factors BT - a promising tool to improve crop productivity JF - Journal of experimental botany N2 - Review exploring the regulation of PHYTOCHROME-INTERACTING FACTORS by light, their role in abiotic stress tolerance and plant architecture, and their influence on crop productivity. Light is a key determinant for plant growth, development, and ultimately yield. Phytochromes, red/far-red photoreceptors, play an important role in plant architecture, stress tolerance, and productivity. In the model plant Arabidopsis, it has been shown that PHYTOCHROME-INTERACTING FACTORS (PIFs; bHLH transcription factors) act as central hubs in the integration of external stimuli to regulate plant development. Recent studies have unveiled the importance of PIFs in crops. They are involved in the modulation of plant architecture and productivity through the regulation of cell division and elongation in response to different environmental cues. These studies show that different PIFs have overlapping but also distinct functions in the regulation of plant growth. Therefore, understanding the molecular mechanisms by which PIFs regulate plant development is crucial to improve crop productivity under both optimal and adverse environmental conditions. In this review, we discuss current knowledge of PIFs acting as integrators of light and other signals in different crops, with particular focus on the role of PIFs in responding to different environmental conditions and how this can be used to improve crop productivity. KW - Cold KW - drought KW - grain size KW - heat KW - light signaling KW - phytochrome KW - PIF KW - plant architecture KW - plant breeding KW - plant yield KW - salinity Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1093/jxb/erac142 SN - 0022-0957 SN - 1460-2431 VL - 73 IS - 12 SP - 3881 EP - 3897 PB - Oxford Univ. Press CY - Oxford ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ramos-Sanchez, Jose M. A1 - Triozzi, Paolo M. A1 - Alique, Daniel A1 - Geng, Feng A1 - Gao, Mingjun A1 - Jaeger, Katja E. A1 - Wigge, Philip Anthony A1 - Allona, Isabel A1 - Perales, Mariano T1 - LHY2 Integrates Night-Length Information to Determine Timing of Poplar Photoperiodic Growth JF - Current biology N2 - Day length is a key indicator of seasonal information that determines major patterns of behavior in plants and animals. Photoperiodism has been described in plants for about 100 years, but the underlying molecular mechanisms of day length perception and signal transduction in many systems are not well understood. In trees, photoperiod perception plays a major role in growth cessation during the autumn as well as activating the resumption of shoot growth in the spring, both processes controlled by FLOWERING LOCUS T2 (FT2) expression levels and critical for the survival of perennial plants over winter [1-4]. It has been shown that the conserved role of poplar orthologs to Arabidopsis CONSTANS (CO) directly activates FT2 expression [1, 5]. Overexpression of poplar CO is, however, not sufficient to sustain FT2 expression under short days [5] , pointing to the presence of an additional short-day-dependent FT2 repression pathway in poplar. We find that night length information is transmitted via the expression level of a poplar clock gene, LATE ELONGATED HYPOCOTYL 2 (LHY2), which controls FT2 expression. Repression of FT2 is a function of the night extension and LHY2 expression level. We show that LHY2 is necessary and sufficient to activate night length repressive signaling. We propose that the photoperiodic control of shoot growth in poplar involves a balance between FT2 activating and repressing pathways. Our results show that poplar relies on night length measurement to determine photoperiodism through interaction between light signaling pathways and the circadian clock. Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2019.06.003 SN - 0960-9822 SN - 1879-0445 VL - 29 IS - 14 SP - 2402 EP - 2406 PB - Cell Press CY - Cambridge ER -