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Mol. Cells 2013; 35(5): 371-380

Published online May 16, 2013

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10059-013-0135-5

© The Korean Society for Molecular and Cellular Biology

Phytochrome-Interacting Factors Have Both Shared and Distinct Biological Roles

Jinkil Jeong, and Giltsu Choi

Department of Biological Sciences, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon 305-701, Korea

Received: April 30, 2013; Accepted: May 3, 2013

Abstract

Phytochromes are plant photoreceptors that perceive red and far-red light. Upon the perception of light in Arabidopsis, light-activated phytochromes enter the nucleus and act on a set of interacting proteins, modulating their activities and thereby altering the expression levels of ~10% of the organism’s entire gene complement. Phytochrome-interacting factors (PIFs) belonging to Arabidopsis basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) subgroup 15 are key interacting proteins that play negative roles in light responses. Their activities are post-translationally countered by light-acti-vated phytochromes, which promote the degradation of PIFs and directly or indirectly inhibit their binding to DNA. The PIFs share a high degree of similarity, but examinations of pif single and multiple mutants have indicated that they have shared and distinct functions in various devel-opmental and physiological processes. These are believed to stem from differences in both intrinsic protein properties and their gene expression patterns. In an effort to clarify the basis of these shared and distinct functions, we compared recently published genome-wide ChIP data, developmental gene expression maps, and responses to various stimuli for the various PIFs. Based on our observations, we propose that the biological roles of PIFs stem from their shared and distinct DNA binding targets and specific gene expression patterns.

Keywords bHLH transcription factor, gene expression analysis, light signaling, phytochrome, phytochrome-interacting factor

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Mol. Cells 2013; 35(5): 371-380

Published online May 31, 2013 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10059-013-0135-5

Copyright © The Korean Society for Molecular and Cellular Biology.

Phytochrome-Interacting Factors Have Both Shared and Distinct Biological Roles

Jinkil Jeong, and Giltsu Choi

Department of Biological Sciences, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon 305-701, Korea

Received: April 30, 2013; Accepted: May 3, 2013

Abstract

Phytochromes are plant photoreceptors that perceive red and far-red light. Upon the perception of light in Arabidopsis, light-activated phytochromes enter the nucleus and act on a set of interacting proteins, modulating their activities and thereby altering the expression levels of ~10% of the organism’s entire gene complement. Phytochrome-interacting factors (PIFs) belonging to Arabidopsis basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) subgroup 15 are key interacting proteins that play negative roles in light responses. Their activities are post-translationally countered by light-acti-vated phytochromes, which promote the degradation of PIFs and directly or indirectly inhibit their binding to DNA. The PIFs share a high degree of similarity, but examinations of pif single and multiple mutants have indicated that they have shared and distinct functions in various devel-opmental and physiological processes. These are believed to stem from differences in both intrinsic protein properties and their gene expression patterns. In an effort to clarify the basis of these shared and distinct functions, we compared recently published genome-wide ChIP data, developmental gene expression maps, and responses to various stimuli for the various PIFs. Based on our observations, we propose that the biological roles of PIFs stem from their shared and distinct DNA binding targets and specific gene expression patterns.

Keywords: bHLH transcription factor, gene expression analysis, light signaling, phytochrome, phytochrome-interacting factor

Mol. Cells
Nov 30, 2023 Vol.46 No.11, pp. 655~725
COVER PICTURE
Kim et al. (pp. 710-724) demonstrated that a pathogen-derived Ralstonia pseudosolanacearum type III effector RipL delays flowering time and enhances susceptibility to bacterial infection in Arabidopsis thaliana. Shown is the RipL-expressing Arabidopsis plant, which displays general dampening of the transcriptional program during pathogen infection, grown in long-day conditions.

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