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A 146 bp fragment of the tobacco Lhcb1*2 promoter confers very-low-fluence, low-fluence and high-irradiance responses of phytochrome to a minimal CaMV 35S promoter

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Abstract

The occurrence of very-low-fluence responses (VLFR), low-fluence responses (LFR) and high-irradiance responses (HIR) of phytochrome was investigated for the expression of the gene of β-glucuronidase (gusA) under the control of the tobacco Lhcb1*2 promoter, in etiolated transgenic tobacco seedlings. The activity of β-glucuronidase (GUS) showed biphasic responses to the calculated proportion of Pfr provided by light pulses. The first phase (i.e. the VLFR) showed a maximum for Pfr levels characteristic of far-red light. The second phase (i.e. the LFR) was observed at higher Pfr levels and was reversible by far-red light pulses. The strong effect of continuous far-red light (i.e. HIR) was fluence-rate-dependent and could not be replaced either by hourly pulses of the same spectral composition and total fluence or by very low fluences of red light. Deletion Lhcb1*2 promoter to -453 caused little loss of GUS activity. The -453 to -31, -270 to -31 and -176 to -31 fragments of the Lhcb1*2 promoter conferred proportionally normal VLFR, LFR and HIR to a truncated (-46 to +8) CaMV 35S minimal promoter. This is the first demonstration of the presence of three phytochrome action modes in the control of the transcriptional activity of a single gene. The cis-acting regulatory elements necessary for VLFR, LFR and HIR are present in a 146 bp fragment of the tobacco Lhcb1*2 promoter.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas Fundación Campomar, Av. Patricias Argentinas 435, 1405, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Pablo D. Cerdán & Roberto J. Staneloni

  2. IFEVA, Departamento de Ecología, Facultad de Agronomía, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Av. San Martín 4453, 1417, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Jorge J. Casal & Rodolfo A. Sánchez

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  1. Pablo D. Cerdán
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  2. Roberto J. Staneloni
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  4. Rodolfo A. Sánchez
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Cerdán, P.D., Staneloni, R.J., Casal, J.J. et al. A 146 bp fragment of the tobacco Lhcb1*2 promoter confers very-low-fluence, low-fluence and high-irradiance responses of phytochrome to a minimal CaMV 35S promoter. Plant Mol Biol 33, 245–255 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005784407282

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