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 that respond rapidly to red-light signals upon first exposure of dark-grown seedlings, and have tested the functional relevance to normal seedling photomorphogenesis of an initial subset of these genes. The data: (a) reveal considerable complexity in the channeling of the light signals through the different phy-family members (phyA to phyE) to responsive genes; (b) identify a diversity of transcription-factor-encoding genes as major early, if not primary, targets of phy signaling, and, therefore, as potentially important regulators in the transcriptional-network hierarchy; and (c) identify auxin-related genes as the dominant class among rapidly-regulated, hormone-related genes. However, reverse-genetic functional profiling of a selected subset of these genes reveals that only a limited fraction are necessary for optimal phy-induced seedling deetiolation.