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Alteration of PHYA expression change circadian rhythms and timing of bud set in Populus

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Abstract

In many temperate woody species, dormancy is induced by short photoperiods. Earlier studies have shown that the photoreceptor phytochrome A (phyA) promotes growth. Specifically, Populus plants that over-express the oat PHYA gene (oatPHYAox) show daylength-independent growth and do not become dormant. However, we show that oatPHYAox plants could be induced to set bud and become cold hardy by exposure to a shorter, non-24 h diurnal cycle that significantly alters the relative position between endogenous rhythms and perceived light/dark cycles. Furthermore, we describe studies in which the expression of endogenous Populus tremula × P. tremuloides PHYTOCHROME A (PttPHYA) was reduced in Populus trees by antisense inhibition. The antisense plants showed altered photoperiodic requirements, resulting in earlier growth cessation and bud formation in response to daylength shortening, an effect that was explained by an altered innate period that leads to phase changes of clock-associated genes such as PttCO2. Moreover, gene expression studies following far-red light pulses show a phyA-mediated repression of PttLHY1 and an induction of PttFKF1 and PttFT. We conclude that the level of PttPHYA expression strongly influences seasonally regulated growth in Populus and is central to co-ordination between internal clock-regulated rhythms and external light/dark cycles through its dual effect on the pace of clock rhythms and in light signaling.

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Abbreviations

CaMV:

Cauliflower mosaic virus

CDL:

Critical daylength

LL:

Constant light

DD:

Constant dark

FR:

Far-red

LD:

Long day

SD:

Short day

ZT:

Zeitgeber time

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Ingabritt Carlsson, Gunilla Malmberg, Marie Nygren, Kjell Olofsson, Medisa Hasić, Isabella Pekkari and Sofia Österberg for their excellent technical assistance and to the Wallenberg greenhouse staff for their valuable help. Luis Muniz and Harriet G. McWatters are acknowledged for helpful scientific discussions. We thank Andrew J. Millar for the gift of the promoter:LUC constructs and BRASS software. We are also grateful for valuable help from Yury Shatz regarding the PixelSmart plug-in for ImageJ. This work was supported by grants to MEE from the Swedish Research Council for Environment, Agricultural Sciences and Spatial Planning (FORMAS), the Swedish Research Council (VR), the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation and Nils och Dorthi Troëdssons forskningsfond. The research was also supported by the Swedish Natural Science Research Council (NFR), Swedish Research Council for Agricultural Sciences (SJFR), the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research (SSF), the Kempe Foundation and a Human Frontier Science Program (RG0303) to TM.

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Author notes

  1. Iwanka Kozarewa

    Present address: Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridgeshire, CB10 1SA, UK

  2. Cristian Ibáñez

    Present address: Facultad de Ciencias, Departamento de Biología, Universidad de La Serena, Casilla 599, Benavente 980, La Serena, Chile

  3. Makiko Chono

    Present address: Research Team for Wheat and Barley Biotechnology, National Institute of Crop Science, National Agriculture and Food Research Organization, 2-1-18 Kannondai, Tsukuba, 305-8518, Japan

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Plant Physiology, Umeå Plant Science Centre, Umeå University, 901 87, Umeå, Sweden

    Iwanka Kozarewa, Cristian Ibáñez, Mikael Johansson, Eva Nylander & Maria E. Eriksson

  2. Department of Forest Genetics and Plant Physiology, Umeå Plant Science Centre, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, 901 83, Umeå, Sweden

    Erling Ögren, David Mozley, Makiko Chono & Thomas Moritz

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  1. Iwanka Kozarewa
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Correspondence to Maria E. Eriksson.

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Iwanka Kozarewa and Cristian Ibáñez authors contributed equally to this manuscript.

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Kozarewa, I., Ibáñez, C., Johansson, M. et al. Alteration of PHYA expression change circadian rhythms and timing of bud set in Populus . Plant Mol Biol 73, 143–156 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11103-010-9619-2

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