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Signaling mechanisms of plant cryptochromes in Arabidopsis thaliana

  • JPR Symposium
  • The Cutting Edge of Photoresponse Mechanisms: Photoreceptor and Signaling Mechanism
  • Published:
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Abstract

Cryptochromes (CRY) are flavoproteins that direct a diverse array of developmental processes in response to blue light in plants. Conformational changes in CRY are induced by the absorption of photons and result in the propagation of light signals to downstream components. In Arabidopsis, CRY1 and CRY2 serve both distinct and partially overlapping functions in regulating photomorphogenic responses and photoperiodic flowering. For example, both CRY1 and CRY2 regulate the abundance of transcription factors by directly reversing the activity of E3 ubiquitin ligase on CONSTITUTIVE PHOTOMORPHOGENIC 1 and SUPPRESSOR OF PHYA-105 1 complexes in a blue light-dependent manner. CRY2 also specifically governs a photoperiodic flowering mechanism by directly interacting with a transcription factor called CRYPTOCHROME-INTERACTING BASIC-HELIX-LOOP-HELIX. Recently, structure/function analysis of CRY1 revealed that the CONSTITUTIVE PHOTOMORPHOGENIC 1 independent pathway is also involved in CRY1-mediated inhibition of hypocotyl elongation. CRY1 and CRY2 thus not only share a common pathway but also relay light signals through distinct pathways, which may lead to altered developmental programs in plants.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Program for New Century Excellent Talents in Fujian Province University and the School Special Development program of Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University (6112C035001).

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    Authors and Affiliations

    1. Basic Forestry and Proteomics Center, Haixia Institute of Science and Technology, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, 350002, China

      Bobin Liu, Zhaohe Yang & Yoshito Oka

    2. College of Forestry, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, 350002, China

      Bobin Liu

    3. Molecular, Cellular and Integrative Physiology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA

      Adam Gomez

    4. Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agriculture Sciences, Beijing, 100081, People’s Republic of China

      Bin Liu

    5. Department of Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA

      Chentao Lin

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    1. Bobin Liu
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    2. Zhaohe Yang
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    3. Adam Gomez
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    4. Bin Liu
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    6. Yoshito Oka
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    Correspondence to Yoshito Oka.

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    B. Liu, Z. Yang and A. Gomez contributed equally to this article.

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    Liu, B., Yang, Z., Gomez, A. et al. Signaling mechanisms of plant cryptochromes in Arabidopsis thaliana . J Plant Res 129, 137–148 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10265-015-0782-z

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