title: Role and functioning of bHLH transcription factors in jasmonate signalling.
abstract: Plant growth, development and interaction with the environment involve the action of multiple phytohormones. Transcription factors (TFs) of diverse families play essential roles in the signalling cascades triggered by the perception of a particular hormone. TFs may act alone or in a combinatorial fashion with other TFs, and may act specifically in a single hormonal signalling cascade or as signalling hubs for multiple hormones. In the signalling cascades triggered by the phytohormone jasmonate (JA), which modulates a diverse, but specific, range of aspects of plant growth, development and defence, the TFs of the basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) family play an essential and often conserved role in the plant kingdom. Here, we first discuss the bHLH TFs involved in all kinds of JA-modulated processes in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. Secondly, we elaborate on the identity and role of bHLH TFs in the conserved JA-mediated elicitation of specialized metabolism of medicinal and crop species. Finally, we discuss which directions future fundamental research on the functioning of bHLH TFs in JA signalling may head for and how this research can be translated from model plants into crop and medicinal plant species to engineer traits of agronomical and industrial interest.
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Systems Biology, VIB, Technologiepark 927, B-9052 Gent, Belgium.|Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Ghent University, Technologiepark 927, B-9052 Gent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Jonas
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Goossens
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Systems Biology, VIB, Technologiepark 927, B-9052 Gent, Belgium.|Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Ghent University, Technologiepark 927, B-9052 Gent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mertens
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Systems Biology, VIB, Technologiepark 927, B-9052 Gent, Belgium.|Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Ghent University, Technologiepark 927, B-9052 Gent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Alain
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Goossens
mesh_terms: D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D051792:Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D018556:Crops, Agricultural / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D003517:Cyclopentanes / Q000378:metabolism*; D054883:Oxylipins / Q000378:metabolism*; D010937:Plant Growth Regulators / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D010946:Plants, Medicinal / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D015398:Signal Transduction
chemical_list: D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins; D051792:Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Proteins; D003517:Cyclopentanes; D054883:Oxylipins; D010937:Plant Growth Regulators; D010940:Plant Proteins; C011006:jasmonic acid
keywords: Arabidopsis thaliana; Catharanthus roseus; JAZ; MYC2; basic helix–loop–helix; jasmonate; specialized metabolism.