title: Photoperiodic control of the floral transition through a distinct polycomb repressive complex.
abstract: Polycomb group (PcG) complexes such as PRC1 mediate transcriptional repression. Here, we show that the plant-specific EMBRYONIC FLOWER1 (EMF1), LIKE HETEROCHROMATIN PROTEIN1, and a histone H3 lysine-4 demethylase form a distinct PcG complex, termed EMF1c, that plays PRC1-like roles and is crucial for regulation of the florigen gene FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT) in Arabidopsis. Long-day photoperiods promote FT expression activation in leaf veins specifically at dusk through the photoperiod pathway to induce Arabidopsis flowering. We found that before dusk and at night, a vascular EMF1c directly represses FT expression to prevent photoperiod-independent flowering, whereas at dusk EMF1 binding to FT chromatin is disrupted by the photoperiod pathway, leading to proper FT activation. Furthermore, a MADS-domain transcription factor and potent floral repressor binds EMF1 to repress FT expression. Our study reveals that the vascular EMF1c integrates inputs from several flowering-regulatory pathways to synchronize flowering time to environmental cues.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences and Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117543, Singapore.
authors.forename: Yizhong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences and Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117543, Singapore.
authors.forename: Xiaofeng
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Gu
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences and Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117543, Singapore.
authors.forename: Wenya
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA.
authors.forename: Robert J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Schmitz
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences and Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117543, Singapore; Shanghai Center for Plant Stress Biology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200032, China. Electronic address: dbshy@nus.edu.sg.
authors.forename: Yuehui
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: He
mesh_terms: D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism*; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D015153:Blotting, Western; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D002843:Chromatin / Q000235:genetics; D047369:Chromatin Immunoprecipitation; D002868:Chromosomal Proteins, Non-Histone / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D060405:Florigen / Q000378:metabolism; D035264:Flowers / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000378:metabolism; D006657:Histones / Q000378:metabolism; D047468:Immunoprecipitation; D056484:Jumonji Domain-Containing Histone Demethylases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D026161:MADS Domain Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D017440:Photoperiod; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000166:cytology / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D063146:Polycomb-Group Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D015533:Transcriptional Activation; D020798:Two-Hybrid System Techniques
chemical_list: D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins; D002843:Chromatin; D002868:Chromosomal Proteins, Non-Histone; C435921:EMF1 protein, Arabidopsis; C418902:At5g10140 protein, Arabidopsis; D060405:Florigen; D006657:Histones; D026161:MADS Domain Proteins; D063146:Polycomb-Group Proteins; D012333:RNA, Messenger; C443901:like heterochromatin protein 1; C549618:JMJ14 protein, Arabidopsis; D056484:Jumonji Domain-Containing Histone Demethylases