Spatial regulation of thermomorphogenesis by HY5 and PIF4 in Arabidopsis.
Sanghwa Lee, Wenli Wang, Enamul Huq
Author Information
Sanghwa Lee: Department of Molecular Biosciences and The Institute for Cellular and Molecular Biology, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA. ORCID
Wenli Wang: Department of Molecular Biosciences and The Institute for Cellular and Molecular Biology, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA. ORCID
Enamul Huq: Department of Molecular Biosciences and The Institute for Cellular and Molecular Biology, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA. huq@austin.utexas.edu. ORCID
Plants respond to high ambient temperature by implementing a suite of morphological changes collectively termed thermomorphogenesis. Here we show that the above and below ground tissue-response to high ambient temperature are mediated by distinct transcription factors. While the central hub transcription factor, PHYTOCHROME INTERCTING FACTOR 4 (PIF4) regulates the above ground tissue response, the below ground root elongation is primarily regulated by ELONGATED HYPOCOTYL 5 (HY5). Plants respond to high temperature by largely expressing distinct sets of genes in a tissue-specific manner. HY5 promotes root thermomorphogenesis via directly controlling the expression of many genes including the auxin and BR pathway genes. Strikingly, the above and below ground thermomorphogenesis is impaired in spaQ. Because SPA1 directly phosphorylates PIF4 and HY5, SPAs might control the stability of PIF4 and HY5 to regulate thermomorphogenesis in both tissues. These data collectively suggest that plants employ distinct combination of SPA-PIF4-HY5 module to regulate tissue-specific thermomorphogenesis.
