INTEGRATION OF LIGHT AND TEMPERATURE CUES IN PLANT DEVELOPMENT

ROJAS, CECILIA COSTIGLIOLO; VIERSTRA, RICHARD D.; LEGRIS, MARTINA; CASAL, JORGE J.

Congreso; 52th Annual Meeting Argentine Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology; 2016

Plants, as sessile organisms, depend on their capacity to perceive and respond to changes in environment in order to survive and reproduce. Among ambient factors, light and temperature are undoubtedly the most relevant for plant development. For example, increasing light signaling inhibits hypocoyl elongation whereas increasing temperature (below the optimum) promotes hypocoyl elongation. The aim of this work is to analyze the combined effects of these signals on plant morphogenesis.Seedlings growing in nature can be shaded by taller plants, with a consequent reduction in radiation which lowers air and leaf temperature. Also, since chlorophylls absorb mainly in the blue and red portions of the spectrum, light under a canopy is enriched in green and far red wavelengths compared to sunlight. Changes in the red/far red ratio and red light intensity are perceived mainly by phytochrome B (phyB),one of the five members of the phytochrome family in Arabidopsis.To assess the effect of light and temperature changes caused by neighbors on plant morphogenesis transgenic lines of Arabidopsis carrying phyB variants of different stability were grown under a wide range of light conditions and temperatures. Hypocotyl elongation and the sub-nuclear distribution of phyB-GFP were recorded. This data allowed us to develop a model which predicts plant growth in different light and temperature conditions.