Journal article

Authors list: Jaedicke, K; Lichtenthäler, AL; Meyberg, R; Zeidler, M; Hughes, J

Publication year: 2012

Pages: 12231-12236

Journal: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Volume number: 109

Issue number: 30

ISSN: 0027-8424

Open access status: Green

DOI Link: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1120203109

Publisher: National Academy of Sciences

Abstract: 
Phytochromes are red/far-red photochromic photoreceptors central to regulating plant development. Although they are known to enter the nucleus upon light activation and, once there, regulate transcription, this is not the complete picture. Various phytochrome effects are manifested much too rapidly to derive from changes in gene expression, whereas others seem to occur without phytochrome entering the nucleus. Phytochromes also guide directional responses to light, excluding a genetic signaling route and implying instead plasma membrane association and a direct cytoplasmic signal. However, to date, no such association has been demonstrated. Here we report that a phytochrome subpopulation indeed associates physically with another photoreceptor, phototropin, at the plasma membrane. Yeast two-hybrid methods using functional photoreceptor molecules showed that the phytochrome steering growth direction in Physcomitrella protonemata binds several phototropins specifically in the photoactivated Pfr state. Split-YFP studies in planta showed that the interaction occurs exclusively at the plasma membrane. Coimmunoprecipitation experiments provided independent confirmation of in vivo phy-phot binding. Consistent with this interaction being associated with a cellular signal, we found that phytochrome-mediated tropic responses are impaired in Physcomitrella phot-mutants. Split-YFP revealed a similar interaction between Arabidopsis phytochrome A and phototropin 1 at the plasma membrane. These associations additionally provide a functional explanation for the evolution of neochrome photoreceptors. Our results imply that the elusive phytochrome cytoplasmic signal arises through binding and coaction with phototropin at the plasma membrane.

Harvard Citation style: Jaedicke, K., Lichtenthäler, A., Meyberg, R., Zeidler, M. and Hughes, J. (2012) A phytochrome-phototropin light signaling complex at the plasma membrane, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 109(30), pp. 12231-12236. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1120203109

APA Citation style: Jaedicke, K., Lichtenthäler, A., Meyberg, R., Zeidler, M., & Hughes, J. (2012). A phytochrome-phototropin light signaling complex at the plasma membrane. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 109(30), 12231-12236. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1120203109