Travelling chloroplast retrograde signals: the root station

MARIA KALYNA; EZEQUIEL PETRILLO; ANDREA BARTA

Kyoto

Congreso; RNA meeting 2016; 2016

Light is a source of energy and also a regulator of plant physiological adaptations. We have previously shown that light/dark transitions affect alternative splicing of a subset of Arabidopsis genes, preferentially those encoding proteins involved in RNA processing. These effects require functional chloroplasts and are also observed in the roots when the communication with the photosynthetic tissues is not interrupted, suggesting that a signaling molecule travels through the plant. We are now aiming to identify the nature of the light signals that communicate the chloroplast status to the nuclei of leaf and of root cells. Focusing on the determination of the nature of the mobile signal that impacts in the roots, we have found evidence implying sugars as the main candidate to be responsible for the observed effects in the non-photosynthetic tissues, and we are currently dissecting the signaling pathway in the root cells. The role of kinases as sugar/energy sensors and the involvement of protein synthesis will be discuss.