A seedling that emerges in darkness follows a developmental program known as skotomorphogenesis (dark development), which is characterized by etiolation, that is, a long, spindly hypocotyl and pale cotyledons and inhibition of chlorophyll and anthocyanin biosynthesis and true leaf development. Upon exposure to light, the seedling switches rapidly to photomorphogenesis (light development); the h...

Auxin-responsive cDNA clones have been isolated from a cDNA library prepared from elongating soybean hypocotyl poly(A)(+)RNA. The expression of two such sequences has been assessed by RNA blot hybridization analyses during normal developmental transitions in the soybean hypocotyl and during incubation of sections excised from the region of cell elongation. The concentrations of these poly(A)(+)...

Photomorphogenetic responses have been studied in a cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) mutant (lh), which has long hypocotyls in white light (WL). While etiolated seedlings of this mutant have a similar phytochrome content and control of hypocotyl elongation as wild type, deetiolation is retarded and WL-grown seedlings show reduced phytochrome control. Spectrophotometric measurements exhibit that WL...

Phototropins (phot1 and phot2), the blue light receptors in plants, regulate hypocotyl phototropism in a fluence-dependent manner. Especially under high fluence rates of blue light (HBL), the redundant function mediated by both phot1 and phot2 drastically restricts the understanding of the roles of phot2. Here, systematic analysis of phototropin-related mutants and overexpression transgenic lin...

During germination, the embryo axis elongates and the radicle emerges through the surrounding structures of the seed. However, this elongation is not even along the axis, and it has been suggested that the region responsible for radicle protrusion is related to the type of subsequent seedling establishment. Eleven epigeal- and five hypogeal-type species were selected to study endoreduplication,...

Hypocotyl elongation is a highly coordinated physiological response regulated by myriad internal and external cues. Here, we show that BBX19, a transcriptional regulator with two B-box motifs, is a positive regulator of growth; diminished BBX19 expression by RNA interference reduces hypocotyl length, and its constitutive expression promotes growth. This function of BBX19 is dependent on the E3 ...

HSFA9 is a seed-specific transcription factor that in sunflower (Helianthus annuus) is involved in desiccation tolerance and longevity. Here we show that the constitutive overexpression of HSFA9 in tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) seedlings attenuated hypocotyl growth under darkness and accelerated the initial photosynthetic development. Plants overexpressing HSFA9 increased accumulation of caroteno...

Many processes critical to plant growth and development are regulated by the hormone auxin. Auxin responses are initiated through activation of a transcriptional response mediated by the TIR1/AFB family of F-box protein auxin receptors as well as the AUX/IAA and ARF families of transcriptional regulators. However, there is little information on how auxin regulates a specific cellular response. ...

Analysis of time series of images can quantify plant growth and development, including the effects of genetic mutations (phenotypes) that give information about gene function. Here is demonstrated a software application named HYPOTrace that automatically extracts growth and shape information from electronic gray-scale images of Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) seedlings. Key to the method is ...

It is well accepted that lateral redistribution of the phytohormone auxin underlies the bending of plant organs towards light. In monocots, photoreception occurs at the shoot tip above the region of differential growth. Despite more than a century of research, it is still unresolved how light regulates auxin distribution and where this occurs in dicots. Here, we establish a system in Arabidopsi...