Abstract
Light perception and hormone signaling in plants are likely connected at multiple points. Light conditions, perceived by photoreceptors, control plant responses by altering hormone concentration, tissue sensitivity, or a combination of both. Whereas it is relatively straightforward to assess the light effects on hormone levels, hormone sensitivity is subjected to interpretation. In Arabidopsis thaliana seedlings, hypocotyl length is strongly affected by light conditions. As hypocotyl elongation also depends on brassinosteroids (BRs), assaying this response provides a valuable and easy way to measure the responsiveness of seedlings to BRs and the impact of light. We describe a simple protocol to evaluate the responsiveness of hypocotyls to commercial BRs and/or BR inhibitors under a range of light conditions. These assays can be used to establish whether light affects BR sensitivity or whether BRs affect light sensitivity. Overall, our protocol can be easily applied for deetiolation (under polychromatic or monochromatic light) and simulated shade treatments combined with BR treatments.
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Acknowledgments
SP received a predoctoral fellowship from the Catalan Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca (AGAUR, FI-DGR 2015). MJM-C received a predoctoral FPI fellowship from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competivity (MINECO). IR-V received a Beatriu de Pinós contract from AGAUR. Our research is supported by grants from the MINECO-FEDER (BIO2011-23489, BIO2014-59895-P) and AGAUR (2014-SGR447 and Xarba) to JFM-G.
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Paulišić, S., Molina-Contreras, M.J., Roig-Villanova, I., Martínez-García, J.F. (2017). Approaches to Study Light Effects on Brassinosteroid Sensitivity. In: Russinova, E., Caño-Delgado, A. (eds) Brassinosteroids. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 1564. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-6813-8_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-6813-8_5
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Publisher Name: Humana Press, New York, NY
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Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-6813-8
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