Abstract
Phytochrome interacting factor (PIF) transcription factors have been shown to be important in the regulation of seed dormancy and germination by environmental cues. Many PIF-family transcription factors are expressed in seeds but only PIF1 and SPATULA (SPT) have been tested for a role in germination control. Here we show that PIF6 is expressed strongly during seed development, and that two splice variants exist, one full length (the α form), and a second, the β form, in which a cryptic intron containing the potential DNA binding domain is spliced out, predicted to lead to the generation of a premature stop codon. Loss of PIF6 increases primary seed dormancy, whereas overexpression of the β form, but not the α form, reduce dormancy. Our data show the potential for natural splice variants of PIF transcription factors to be important in the evolution of the control of environmental signalling in plants.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Achard P, Cheng H, De Grauwe L, Decat J, Schoutteten H, Moritz T, Van Der Straeten D, Peng J, Harberd NP (2006) Integration of plant responses to environmentally activated phytohormonal signals. Science 311:91–94
Alonso JM, Stepanova AN, Leisse TJ, Kim CJ, Chen H, Shinn P, Stevenson DK, Zimmerman J, Barajas P, Cheuk R, Gadrinab C, Heller C, Jeske A, Koesema E, Meyers CC, Parker H, Prednis L, Ansari Y, Choy N, Deen H, Geralt M, Hazari N, Hom E, Karnes M, Mulholland C, Ndubaku R, Schmidt I, Guzman P, Aguilar-Henonin L, Schmid M, Weigel D, Carter DE, Marchand T, Risseeuw E, Brogden D, Zeko A, Crosby WL, Berry CC, Ecker JR (2003) Genome-wide insertional mutagenesis of Arabidopsis thaliana. Science 301:653–657
Al-Sady B, Kikis EA, Monte E, Quail PH (2008) Mechanistic duality of transcription factor function in phytochrome signaling. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 105:2232–2237
Borthwick HA, Hendricks SB, Parker MW, Toole EH, Toole VK (1952) A reversible photoreaction controlling seed germination. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 38:662–666
Duek PD, Fankhauser C (2005) bHLH class transcription factors take centre stage in phytochrome signalling. Trends Plant Sci 10:51–54
Fankhauser C, Chory J (2000) RSF1, an Arabidopsis locus implicated in phytochrome a signaling. Plant Physiol 124:39–45
Hennig L, Stoddart WM, Dieterle M, Whitelam GC, Schäfer E (2002) Phytochrome E controls light-induced germination of Arabidopsis. Plant Physiol 128:194–200
Khanna R, Huq E, Kikis EA, Al-Sady B, Lanzatella C, Quail PH (2004) A novel molecular recognition motif necessary for targeting photoactivated phytochrome signaling to specific basic helix-loop-helix transcription factors. Plant Cell 16:3033–3044
Kim J, Yi H, Choi G, Shin B, Song PS, Choi G (2003) Functional characterization of phytochrome interacting factor 3 in phytochrome-mediated light signal transduction. Plant Cell 15:2399–2407
Koini MA, Alvey L, Allen T, Tilley CA, Harberd NP, Whitelam GC, Franklin KA (2009) High temperature-mediated adaptations in plant architecture require the bHLH transcription factor PIF4. Curr Biol 19:408–413
Koornneef M, Van der Veen JH (1980) Induction and analysis of gibberellin sensitive mutants in Arabidopsis thaliana. Theor App Genet 58:257–263
Léon-Kloosterziel KM, Gil MA, Ruijs GJ, Jacobsen SE, Olszewski NE, Schwartz SH, Zeevaart JA, Koornneef M (1996) Isolation and characterization of abscisic acid-deficient Arabidopsis mutants at two new loci. Plant J 10:655–661
Nambara E, Keith K, McCourt P, Naito S (1994) Isolation of an internal deletion mutant of the Arabidopsis thaliana ABI3 gene. Plant Cell Physiol 35:509–513
Ni M, Tepperman JM, Quail PH (1998) PIF3, a phytochrome-interacting factor necessary for normal photoinduced signal transduction, is a novel basic helix-loop-helix protein. Cell 95:657–667
Nozue K, Covington MF, Duek PD, Lorrain S, Fankhauser C, Harmer SL, Maloof JN (2007) Rhythmic growth explained by coincidence between internal and external cues. Nature 448:358–361
Oh E, Kim J, Park E, Kim JI, Kang C, Choi G (2004) PIL5, a phytochrome-interacting basic helix-loop-helix protein, is a key negative regulator of seed germination in Arabidopsis thaliana. Plant Cell 16:3045–3058
Oh E, Yamaguchi S, Kamiya Y, Bae G, Chung WI, Choi G (2006) Light activates the degradation of PIL5 protein to promote seed germination through gibberellin in Arabidopsis. Plant J 47:124–139
Penfield S, Hall AJ (2009) A role for multiple circadian clock genes in the response to signals that break seed dormancy in Arabidopsis. Plant Cell 21:1722–1732
Penfield S, Josse EM, Kannangara R, Gilday AD, Halliday KJ, Graham IA (2005) Cold and light control seed germination through the bHLH transcription factor SPATULA. Curr Biol 15:1998–2006
Schmid M, Davison TS, Henz SR, Pape UJ, Demar M, Vingron M, Schölkopf B, Weigel D, Lohmann JU (2005) A gene expression map of Arabidopsis thaliana development. Nat Genet 37:501–506
Shen H, Moon J, Huq E (2005) PIF1 is regulated by light-mediated degradation through the ubiquitin-26S proteasome pathway to optimize photomorphogenesis of seedlings in Arabidopsis. Plant J 44:1023–1035
Shinomura T, Nagatani A, Chory J, Furuya M (1994) The induction of seed germination in Arabidopsis thaliana is regulated principally by phytochrome B and secondarily by phytochrome A. Plant Physiol 104:363–371
Yang KY, Kim YM, Lee S, Song PS, Soh MS (2003) Overexpression of a mutant basic helix-loop-helix protein HFR1, HFR1-deltaN105, activates a branch pathway of light signaling in Arabidopsis. Plant Physiol 133:1630–1642
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Penfield, S., Josse, EM. & Halliday, K.J. A role for an alternative splice variant of PIF6 in the control of Arabidopsis primary seed dormancy. Plant Mol Biol 73, 89–95 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11103-009-9571-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11103-009-9571-1