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Ectopic expression of a phytochrome B gene from Chinese cabbage (Brassica rapa L. ssp. pekinensis) in Arabidopsis thaliana promotes seedling de-etiolation, dwarfing in mature plants, and delayed flowering

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Abstract

Phytochrome B (phyB) is an essential red light receptor that predominantly mediates seedling de-etiolation, shade-avoidance response, and flowering time. In this study, we isolate a full-length cDNA of PHYB, designated BrPHYB, from Chinese cabbage (Brassica rapa L. ssp. pekinensis), and we find that BrphyB protein has high amino acid sequence similarity and the closest evolutionary relationship to Arabidopsis thaliana phyB (i.e., AtphyB). Quantitative reverse transcription (RT)-PCR results indicate that the BrPHYB gene is ubiquitously expressed in different tissues under all light conditions. Constitutive expression of the BrPHYB gene in A. thaliana significantly enhances seedling de-etiolation under red- and white-light conditions, and causes dwarf stature in mature plants. Unexpectedly, overexpression of BrPHYB in transgenic A. thaliana resulted in reduced expression of gibberellins biosynthesis genes and delayed flowering under short-day conditions, whereas AtPHYB overexpression caused enhanced expression of FLOWERING LOCUS T and earlier flowering. Our results suggest that BrphyB might play an important role in regulating the development of Chinese cabbage. BrphyB and AtphyB have conserved functions during de-etiolation and vegetative plant growth and divergent functions in the regulation of flowering time.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by grants from the Genetically Modified Organisms Breeding Major Projects of the People’s Republic of China (Grant No. 2014ZX08010-003), the Natural Science Foundation of the People’s Republic of China (Grant Nos. 31170267 and 30871438) and the Modern Agricultural Industrial Technology System Funding of Shandong Province of the People’s Republic of China (SDAIT-02-022-04).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Beijing Radiation Center, Beijing, 100875, People’s Republic of China

    Mei-Fang Song, Hong-Zhong Shang & Hai-Ke Gu

  2. Institute of Vegetables and Flowers, Shandong Academy of Agricultural Sciences/Shandong Key Laboratory of Greenhouse Vegetable Biology, Jinan, 250100, People’s Republic of China

    Mei-Fang Song, Shu Zhang, Jing-Juan Li & Jian-Wei Gao

  3. Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, 12 Zhongguancun South Street, Haidian District, Beijing, 100081, People’s Republic of China

    Mei-Fang Song, Pei Hou, Lin Guo, Liang Su & Jian-Ping Yang

  4. Graduate School, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, 100081, People’s Republic of China

    Yang Xiao

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  1. Mei-Fang Song
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Mei-Fang Song, Shu Zhang and Pei Hou have contributed equally to this work.

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Song, MF., Zhang, S., Hou, P. et al. Ectopic expression of a phytochrome B gene from Chinese cabbage (Brassica rapa L. ssp. pekinensis) in Arabidopsis thaliana promotes seedling de-etiolation, dwarfing in mature plants, and delayed flowering. Plant Mol Biol 87, 633–643 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11103-015-0302-5

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