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A gibberellin-responsive transcription factor from Phalaenopsis ‘Big Chili’ (PIF4) promotes flowering in Arabidopsis thaliana

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Abstract

In Phalaenopsis, gibberellin(GA) increased the stalk length and advanced the flowering date. In this study, the expression of the gene PIF4 was upregulated remarkably after treatment of spraying GA3, which indicated that GA might promote the expression of PIF4. We cloned the full length of PIF4, PhPIF4, to further investigate the function of PhPIF4 in response to GA and the possible involvement in GA flowering pathway of Phalaenopsis. The interaction of DELLA, which is the important protein in the gibberellin pathway in Arabidopsis, with the PhPIF4 was confirmed by BiFC assay and Y2H experiment. Promoter analysis showed that light-related and hormone-responsive cis-acting regulatory elements including gibberellin-responsive elements were located in the promoter of PhPIF4. Overexpressing PhPIF4-1 in Arabidopsis thaliana showed earlier flowering, significantly higher germination ratio and more flowers. While there was no significant differences between 35S::PhPIF4-2 and Col-0. The GUS gene was expressed in roots, filaments, flowers and petioles, mainly in the vascular column of the taproot. These findings indicated PhPIF4 might be directly regulated by GA and the PIF4 protein interacts with DELLA to go through the GA signaling pathway to improve flowering.

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Funding

This work was supported by the Project for Key Research and Plan of Shandong (2021LZGC019) and Yantai Agriculture-related Project.

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Author notes

  1. Yingjie Zhang and Chaoren Nie have contributed equally to this study.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Yantai Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Yantai, 265500, China

    Yingjie Zhang, Jingwei Zhang, Wenjiao Guo, Pengsong Ding, Feng Lan & Jixia Sun

  2. Beijing Key Laboratory of Ornamental Germplasm Innovation and Molecular Breeding, National Engineering Research Center for Floriculture, College of Landscape Architecture, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing, 100083, China

    Yingjie Zhang, Chaoren Nie & Yingmin Lyu

  3. Wuhan Institute of Landscape Architecture, Wuhan, 430081, China

    Chaoren Nie

Authors
  1. Yingjie Zhang
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  2. Chaoren Nie
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  3. Jingwei Zhang
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  4. Wenjiao Guo
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  5. Pengsong Ding
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  7. Jixia Sun
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Contributions

YZ and CN developed the ideas, designed and supervised all the experiments. Experiments and analyses were performed by JZ, WG, PD, JS and FL, YZ and YL prepared the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Pengsong Ding or Jixia Sun.

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Communicated by Yizhou Wang.

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Zhang, Y., Nie, C., Zhang, J. et al. A gibberellin-responsive transcription factor from Phalaenopsis ‘Big Chili’ (PIF4) promotes flowering in Arabidopsis thaliana. Plant Growth Regul 101, 361–371 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10725-023-01023-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10725-023-01023-y

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