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Novel roles for GIGANTEA revealed under environmental conditions that modify its expression in Arabidopsis and Medicago truncatula

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Abstract

GIGANTEA (GI) is a large nuclear protein which is involved in circadian-clock function, red-light signaling and photoperiodic flowering. Accumulation of GI transcript displays a strong diurnal pattern, and is under circadian-clock control, as demonstrated in several diverse species. Clock entrainment and compensation, as well as flowering time, are largely responsive to changes in the environment. We asked if part of this response is mediated through modification of GI expression. We identified a strong response of GI expression to changes in temperature and light, in both Arabidopsis and the model legume Medicago truncatula. Extreme temperatures resulted in increased GI trough levels. Light increased GI expression near dawn and the response to light appeared to be gated by the circadian clock. We provide evidence that the GI response to blue and far-red light requires CRYPTOCHROME function in Arabidopsis. Unknown roles for GI in both blue-light deetiolation and precocious flowering under warm short days were revealed. Plants seem to respond to changes in the environment partly through environmentally induced modifications of a basal clock-regulated pattern of GI transcript accumulation.

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Abbreviations

GI:

GIGANTEA

CO:

CONSTANS

FT:

FLOWERING LOCUS T

CDF1:

CYCLING DOF FACTOR 1

CCA1:

CIRCADIAN CLOCK ASSOCIATED 1

LHY:

LATE ELONGATED HYPOCOTYL

QTL:

Quantitative trait locus

CRY1:

CRYPTOCHROME1

CRY2:

CRYPTOCHROME2

ELF3:

EARLY FLOWERING 3

TOC1:

TIMING OF CAB EXPRESSION 1

LED:

Light-emitting diode

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to D. Weiss, R. Green (Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel) T. Mizoguchi (Tsukuba, Japan) and anonymous reviewers of this manuscript for their very helpful comments. We thank M. Koornneef and G. Coupland (Max Planck, Koln, Germany) for the cry1;cry2 and CRY2-EDI (CRY2-Ler-367M) seeds, respectively, and the Nottingham Arabidopsis Stock Centre for the other seeds used in this research. This research in the AS lab was supported by a CH Revson Foundation grant (436/00-1) from The Israel Science Foundation (ISF), an equipment grant from ISF, and a Research Grant Award No. IS-3434-03 from BARD, The United States-Israel Binational Agricultural Research and Development Fund, and equipment from the Wolfson Advanced Research Center for Plant Genomics and Biotechnology in Semi-Arid Climates.

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  1. Ayala Gover

    Present address: Breakthrough Breast Cancer Research Centre, Institute of Cancer Research, 237 Fulham Road, London, SW3 6JB, UK

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Robert H. Smith Institute for Plant Sciences and Genetics, Faculty of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Quality Sciences, The Hebrew University, P.O. Box 12, Rehovot, 76100, Israel

    Judith Paltiel, Revital Amin, Ayala Gover, Naomi Ori & Alon Samach

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  1. Judith Paltiel
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Correspondence to Alon Samach.

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Judith Paltiel and Revital Amin contributed equally to this work.

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Paltiel, J., Amin, R., Gover, A. et al. Novel roles for GIGANTEA revealed under environmental conditions that modify its expression in Arabidopsis and Medicago truncatula . Planta 224, 1255–1268 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-006-0305-1

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