Project description:Injured plant somatic tissues regenerate themselves by establishing the shoot or root meristems. In Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) a two-step culture system ensures regeneration by first promoting the acquisition of pluripotency and subsequently specifying the fate of new meristems. Although previous studies have reported the importance of phytohormones auxin and cytokinin in determining the fate of new meristems, it remains elusive whether and how the environmental factors influence this process. In this study, we investigated the impact of light signals on shoot regeneration using Arabidopsis hypocotyl as explants. We found that light signals promote shoot regeneration while inhibiting root formation. ELONGATED HYPOCOTYL 5 (HY5), the pivotal transcriptional factor in light signaling, plays a central role in this process by mediating the expression of key genes controlling the fate of new meristems. Specifically, HY5 directly represses root development genes and activates shoot meristem genes, leading to the establishment of shoot progenitor from pluripotent callus. We further demonstrated that the early activation of photosynthesis is critical for shoot initiation, and this is transcriptionally regulated downstream of the HY5-dependent pathways. In conclusion, we uncovered the intricate molecular mechanisms by which light signals control the establishment of new meristem through the regulatory network governed by HY5, thus, highlighting the influence of light signals on plant developmental plasticity.
Project description:Nitrogen and light are two major regulators of plant metabolism and development. While genes involved in the control of each of these signals have begun to be identified, regulators that integrate gene responses to nitrogen and light signals have yet to be determined. Here, we evaluate the role of bZIP1, a transcription factor involved in light and nitrogen sensing, by exposing wild-type (WT) and bZIP1 T-DNA null mutant plants to a combinatorial space of N and L treatment conditions. We use ANOVA analysis combined with clustering and Boolean modeling, to evaluate the role of bZIP1 in mediating L and N signaling genome-wide. Arabidopsis thaliana were growth on basal MS salts (custom-made; GIBCO) with 0.5 mM KNO3, 3 mM sucrose and 0.8% BactoAgar at pH 5.7. After 14 days under long-day (16 h light: 8 h dark) conditions with light intensity of 50 μE.m-2.s-1 and at 22°C, plants were transferred to new plates containing 20 mM KNO3 and 20 mM NH4NO3 (referred here as 1xN: concentrations in MS media) in the absence or presence of light for 2 h at the start of their light cycle.
Project description:The goal of this work was to investigate oxidative stress responses of Arabidopsis to low red to far-red ratios of light as a signal of competition using a biological weedy and an artificial source of far-red light. More specifically, elucidation of the signaling role of singlet oxygen in Arabidopsis under low red-to far-red light environments was the major objective of this work. Oxidative stress responses of Arabidopsis to low red (R) to far-red (FR) signals (R:FR ≈ 0.3), generated by a biological weedy and an artificial source of FR light, were compared with a weed-free control (R:FR ≈1.4). In the low R:FR treatments, induction of the shade avoidance responses coincided with increased singlet oxygen (1O2) production and decreased level of superoxide and superoxide dismutase activity. Although the increase of 1O2 was not due to protochlorophyllide accumulation and did not result in cell death, treatments with the 1O2 generator 5-aminolevulinic acid increased sensitivity to cell death. Transcriptome responses minimally resembled those reported in four Arabidopsis 1O2 generating systems such that only few genes (6 out of 1931) were consistently up-regulated supporting the specificity of 1O2 signaling. Moreover, suppressors of jasmonate accumulation, including the 1O2-responsive amidohydrolase ILL6, the sulfotransferase ST2a, which are involved in prioritization of elongation growth versus defense were consistently up-regulated. Our data support a model in which photoreceptors connect low R:FR light cues to the JA signaling pathway. Repression of bioactive JAs via the amidohydrolase ILL6, and sulfotransferase ST2a may promote the shade avoidance (versus defense) and 1O2 acclimation (versus cell death) responses to competition cues.
Project description:The goal of this project is to compare the primary metabolite profile in different tissue types of the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. Specifically, plants were grown hydroponically under the long-day (16hr light/day) condition at 21C. Tissue samples, including leaves, inflorescences, and roots were harvest 4 1/2 weeks post sowing. Untargeted primary metabolites profiling was carried out using GCTOF.