Phytochrome gene diversity

Phytochrome-regulated Gene Expression

Identification of all genes involved in the phytochrome (phy)-mediated responses of plants to their light environment is an important goal in providing an overall understanding of light-regulated growth and development. This article highlights and integrates the central findings of two recent comprehensive studies in Arabidopsis that have identified the genome-wide set of phy-regulated genes th...

Regulation of Phytochrome Gene Expression

Phytochrome-regulated repression of gene expression requires calcium and cGMP.

The plant photoreceptor phytochrome A utilizes three signal transduction pathways, dependent upon calcium and/or cGMP, to activate genes in the light. In this report, we have studied the phytochrome A regulation of a gene that is down-regulated by light, asparagine synthetase (AS1). We show that AS1 is expressed in the dark and repressed in the light. Repression of AS1 in the light is likely co...

The sorghum photoperiod sensitivity gene, Ma3, encodes a phytochrome B.

The Ma3 gene is one of six genes that regulate the photoperiodic sensitivity of flowering in sorghum (Sorghum bicolor [L.] Moench). The ma3R mutation of this gene causes a phenotype that is similar to plants that are known to lack phytochrome B, and ma3 sorghum lacks a 123-KD phytochrome that predominates in light-grown plants and that is present in non-ma3 plants. A population segregating for ...

Conditional circadian regulation of PHYTOCHROME A gene expression.

The phytochrome photoreceptors and the circadian clock control many of the same developmental processes, in all organs and throughout the growth of Arabidopsis plants. Phytochrome A (phyA) provides light input signals to entrain the circadian clock. The clock is known to rhythmically regulate its light input pathway, so we tested rhythmic regulation of phyA, using transgenic plants carrying a P...