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  - 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  -