SUMMARYThousands of putative biosynthetic genes in Arabidopsis thaliana have no known function, suggesting that there are numerous molecules contributing to plant fitness that have not yet been discovered1,2. Prime among these uncharacterized genes are cytochromes P450 upregulated in response to pathogens3,4. Starting with a single pathogen-induced P4505, CYP82C2, we used a combination of untargeted metabolomics and co-expression analysis to uncover the complete biosynthetic pathway to a previously unknown Arabidopsis metabolite, 4-hydroxyindole-3-carbonyl nitrile (4-OH-ICN), which harbors cyanogenic functionality that is unprecedented in plants and exceedingly rare in nature6,7. The aryl cyanohydrin intermediate in the 4-OH-ICN pathway reveals a latent capacity for cyanogenic glucoside biosynthesis8,9 in Arabidopsis. By expressing 4-OH-ICN biosynthetic enzymes in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Nicotiana benthamiana, we reconstitute the complete pathway in vitro and in vivo and validate the functions of its enzymes. 4-OH-ICN pathway mutants show increased susceptibility to the bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas syringae, consistent with a role in inducible pathogen defense. Arabidopsis has been the preeminent model system10,11 for studying the role of small molecules in plant innate immunity12; our results uncover a new branch of indole metabolism distinct from the canonical camalexin pathway, and support a role for this pathway in the Arabidopsis defense response.13 These results establish a more complete framework for understanding how the model plant Arabidopsis uses small molecules in pathogen defense.

Plants synthesize numerous ecologically specialized, lineage-specific metabolites through biosynthetic gene duplication and functional specialization. However, it remains unclear how duplicated genes are wired into existing regulatory networks. We show that the duplicated gene CYP82C2 has been recruited into the WRKY33 regulon and indole-3-carbonylnitrile (ICN) biosynthetic pathway through exaptation of a retroduplicated LINE retrotransposon ( EPCOT3 ) into an enhancer. The stepwise development of a chromatin-accessible WRKY33-binding site on EPCOT3 has potentiated the regulatory neofunctionalization of CYP82C2 and the evolution of inducible defense metabolite 4-hydroxy-ICN in Arabidopsis thaliana . Although transposable elements (TEs) have long been recognized to have the potential to rewire regulatory networks, these results establish a more complete understanding of how duplicated genes and TEs contribute in concert to chemical diversity and pathogen defense.

Summary• Seed dormancy can affect life history through its effects on germination time. Here, we investigate its influence on life history beyond the timing of germination.• We used the response of Arabidopsis thaliana to chilling at the germination and flowering stages to test the following: how seed dormancy affects germination responses to the environment; whether variation in dormancy affects adult phenology independently of germination time; and whether environmental cues experienced by dormant seeds have an effect on adult life history.• Dormancy conditioned the germination response to low temperatures, such that prolonged periods of chilling induced dormancy in nondormant seeds, but stimulated germination in dormant seeds. The alleviation of dormancy through after-ripening was associated with earlier flowering, independent of germination date. Experimental dormancy manipulations showed that prolonged chilling at the seed stage always induced earlier flowering, regardless of seed dormancy. Surprisingly, this effect of seed chilling on flowering time was observed even when low temperatures did not induce germination.• In summary, seed dormancy influences flowering time and hence life history independent of its effects on germination timing. We conclude that the seed stage has a pronounced effect on life history, the influence of which goes well beyond the timing of germination.

Over several decades, glucosinolates have become a model system for the study of specialized metabolic diversity in plants. The near-complete identification of biosynthetic enzymes, regulators, and transporters has provided support for the role of gene duplication and subsequent changes in gene expression, protein function, and substrate specificity as the evolutionary bases of glucosinolate diversity. Here, we provide examples of how whole-genome duplications, gene rearrangements, and substrate promiscuity potentiated the evolution of glucosinolate biosynthetic enzymes, regulators, and transporters by natural selection. This in turn may have led to the repeated evolution of glucosinolate metabolism and diversity in higher plants.