SUMMARY Sun-loving plants have the ability to detect and avoid shading through sensing of both blue and red light wavelengths. Higher plant cryptochromes (CRYs) control how plants modulate growth in response to changes in blue light. For growth under a canopy, where blue light is diminished, CRY1 and CRY2 perceive this change and respond by directly contacting two bHLH transcription factors, PIF4 and PIF5. These factors are also known to be controlled by phytochromes, the red/far-red photoreceptors; however, transcriptome analyses indicate that the gene regulatory programs induced by the different light wavelengths are distinct. Our results indicate that CRYs signal by modulating PIF activity genome-wide, and that these factors integrate binding of different plant photoreceptors to facilitate growth changes under different light conditions.

Arabidopsis thaliana plants fend off insect attack by constitutive and inducible production of toxic metabolites, such as glucosinolates (GSs). A triple mutant lacking MYC2, MYC3, and MYC4, three basic helix-loop-helix transcription factors that are known to additively control jasmonate-related defense responses, was shown to have a highly reduced expression of GS biosynthesis genes. The myc2 myc3 myc4 (myc234) triple mutant was almost completely devoid of GS and was extremely susceptible to the generalist herbivore Spodoptera littoralis. On the contrary, the specialist Pieris brassicae was unaffected by the presence of GS and preferred to feed on wild-type plants. In addition, lack of GS in myc234 drastically modified S. littoralis feeding behavior. Surprisingly, the expression of MYB factors known to regulate GS biosynthesis genes was not altered in myc234, suggesting that MYC2/MYC3/MYC4 are necessary for direct transcriptional activation of GS biosynthesis genes. To support this, chromatin immunoprecipitation analysis showed that MYC2 binds directly to the promoter of several GS biosynthesis genes in vivo. Furthermore, yeast two-hybrid and pull-down experiments indicated that MYC2/MYC3/MYC4 interact directly with GS-related MYBs. This specific MYC-MYB interaction plays a crucial role in the regulation of defense secondary metabolite production and underlines the importance of GS in shaping plant interactions with adapted and nonadapted herbivores.

SummarySalicylic acid (SA) is a plant signaling molecule that mediates the induction of defense responses upon attack by a variety of pathogens. Moreover, it antagonizes gene induction by the stress signaling molecule jasmonic acid (JA). Several SA-responsive genes are regulated by basic/leucine zipper-type transcription factors of the TGA family. TGA factors interact with NPR1, a central regulator of many SA-induced defense responses including SA/JA antagonism. In order to identify further regulatory proteins of SA-dependent signaling pathways, a yeast protein interaction screen with tobacco TGA2.2 as bait and an Arabidopsis thaliana cDNA prey library was performed and led to the identification of a member of the glutaredoxin family (GRX480, encoded by At1g28480). Glutaredoxins are candidates for mediating redox regulation of proteins because of their capacity to catalyze disulfide transitions. This agrees with previous findings that the redox state of both TGA1 and NPR1 changes under inducing conditions. Transgenic Arabidopsis plants ectopically expressing GRX480 show near wild-type expression of standard marker genes for SA-and xenobiotic-inducible responses. In contrast, transcription of the JA-dependent defensin gene PDF1.2 was antagonized by transgenic GRX480. This, together with the observation that GRX480 transcription is SA-inducible and requires NPR1, suggests a role of GRX480 in SA/JA cross-talk. Suppression of PDF1.2 by GRX480 depends on the presence of TGA factors, indicating that the GRX480/TGA interaction is effective in planta.

Glutaredoxins are small heat-stable oxidoreductases that transfer electrons from glutathione (GSH) to oxidized cysteine residues, thereby contributing to protein integrity and regulation. In Arabidopsis thaliana, floral glutaredoxins ROXY1 and ROXY2 and pathogen-induced ROXY19/GRX480 interact with bZIP transcription factors of the TGACG (TGA) motif-binding family. ROXY1, ROXY2, and TGA factors PERIANTHIA, TGA9, and TGA10 play essential roles in floral development. In contrast, ectopically expressed ROXY19/GRX480 negatively regulates expression of jasmonic acid (JA)/ethylene (ET)-induced defense genes through an unknown mechanism that requires clade II transcription factors TGA2, TGA5, and/or TGA6. Here, we report that at least 17 of the 21 land plant-specific glutaredoxins encoded in the Arabidopsis genome interact with TGA2 in a yeast-two-hybrid system. To investigate their capacity to interfere with the expression of JA/ET-induced genes, we developed a transient expression system. Activation of the ORA59 (OCTADECANOID-RESPONSIVE ARABIDOPSIS AP2/ERF-domain protein 59) promoter by transcription factor EIN3 (ETHYLENE INSENSITVE 3) was suppressed by co-expressed ROXY19/GRX480. Suppression depended on the L**LL motif in the C-terminus of ROXY19/GRX480. This putative protein interaction domain was recently described as being essential for the TGA/ROXY interaction. Ten of the 17 tested ROXY proteins suppressed ORA59 promoter activity, which correlated with the presence of the C-terminal ALWL motif, which is essential for ROXY1 function in flower development. ROXY19/GRX480-mediated repression depended on the GSH binding site, suggesting that redox modification of either TGA factors or as yet unknown target proteins is important for the suppression of ORA59 promoter activity.

SUMMARYThe three closely related Arabidopsis basic leucine zipper (bZIP) transcription factors TGA2, TGA5 and TGA6 are required for the establishment of the salicylic acid (SA)-dependent plant defense response systemic acquired resistance, which is effective against biotrophic pathogens. Here we show that the same transcription factors are essential for the activation of jasmonic acid (JA)-and ethylene (ET)-dependent defense mechanisms that counteract necrotrophic pathogens: the tga256 triple mutant is impaired in JA/ET-induced PDF1.2 and b-CHI expression, which correlates with a higher susceptibility against the necrotroph Botrytis cinerea. JA/ET induction of the trans-activators ERF1 and ORA59, which act upstream of PDF1.2, was slightly increased (ERF1) or unaffected (ORA59). PDF1.2 expression can be restored in the tga256 mutant by increased expression of ORA59, as observed in the tga256 jin1 quadruple mutant, which lacks the transcription factor JIN1/AtMYC2 that functions as a negative regulator of the JA/ET-dependent anti-fungal defense program. Whereas JA/ ET-induced PDF1.2 expression is strongly suppressed by SA in wild-type plants, no negative effect of SA on PDF1.2 expression was observed in the tga256 jin1 quadruple mutant. These results imply that the antagonistic effects of TGA factors and JIN1/AtMYC2 on the JA/ET pathway are necessary to evoke the SA-mediated suppression of JA/ET-induced defense responses.

Understanding the systems-level actions of transcriptional responses to hormones provides insight into how the genome is reprogrammed in response to environmental stimuli. Here, we investigate the signaling pathway of the hormone jasmonic acid (JA), which controls a plethora of critically important processes in plants and is orchestrated by the transcription factor (TF) MYC2 and its closest relatives in Arabidopsis thaliana. We generated an integrated framework of the response to JA that spans from the activity of master and secondary-regulatory TFs, through gene expression outputs and alternative splicing to protein abundance changes, protein phosphorylation and chromatin remodeling. We integrated time series transcriptome analysis with (phospho)proteomic data to reconstruct gene regulatory network models. These enable us to predict previously unknown points of crosstalk from JA to other signaling pathways and to identify new components of the JA regulatory mechanism, which we validated through targeted mutant analysis. These results provide a comprehensive understanding of how a plant hormone remodels cellular functions and plant behavior, the general principles of which provide a framework for analysis of cross-regulation between other hormone and stress signaling pathways.

Mechanical stimuli, such as wind, rain, and touch affect plant development, growth, pest resistance, and ultimately reproductive success. Using water spray to simulate rain, we demonstrate that jasmonic acid (JA) signaling plays a key role in early gene-expression changes, well before it leads to developmental changes in flowering and plant architecture. The JA-activated transcription factors MYC2/MYC3/MYC4 modulate transiently induced expression of 266 genes, most of which peak within 30 min, and control 52% of genes induced >100-fold. Chromatin immunoprecipitation-sequencing analysis indicates that MYC2 dynamically binds >1,300 promoters and trans-activation assays show that MYC2 activates these promoters. By mining our multiomic datasets, we identified a core MYC2/MYC3/MYC4-dependent “regulon” of 82 genes containing many previously unknown MYC2 targets, including transcription factors bHLH19 and ERF109. bHLH19 can in turn directly activate the ORA47 promoter, indicating that MYC2/MYC3/MYC4 initiate a hierarchical network of downstream transcription factors. Finally, we also reveal that rapid water spray-induced accumulation of JA and JA-isoleucine is directly controlled by MYC2/MYC3/MYC4 through a positive amplification loop that regulates JA-biosynthesis genes.

Ankrd11 is a potential chromatin regulator implicated in neural development and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) with no known function in the brain. Here, we show that knockdown of Ankrd11 in developing murine or human cortical neural precursors caused decreased proliferation, reduced neurogenesis, and aberrant neuronal positioning. Similar cellular phenotypes and aberrant ASD-like behaviors were observed in Yoda mice carrying a point mutation in the Ankrd11 HDAC-binding domain. Consistent with a role for Ankrd11 in histone acetylation, Ankrd11 was associated with chromatin and colocalized with HDAC3, and expression and histone acetylation of Ankrd11 target genes were altered in Yoda neural precursors. Moreover, the Ankrd11 knockdown-mediated decrease in precursor proliferation was rescued by inhibiting histone acetyltransferase activity or expressing HDAC3. Thus, Ankrd11 is a crucial chromatin regulator that controls histone acetylation and gene expression during neural development, thereby providing a likely explanation for its association with cognitive dysfunction and ASD.