title: Characterization of Phytochrome Interacting Factors from the MossPhyscomitrella patensIllustrates Conservation of Phytochrome Signaling Modules in Land Plants.
abstract: Across the plant kingdom, phytochrome (PHY) photoreceptors play an important role during adaptive and developmental responses to light. InArabidopsis thaliana, light-activated PHYs accumulate in the nucleus, where they regulate downstream signaling components, such as phytochrome interacting factors (PIFs). PIFs are transcription factors that act as repressors of photomorphogenesis; their inhibition by PHYs leads to substantial changes in gene expression. The nuclear function of PHYs, however, has so far been investigated in only a few non-seed plants. Here, we identified putative target genes of PHY signaling in the mossPhyscomitrella patensand found light-regulated genes that are putative orthologs of PIF-controlled genes in Arabidopsis. Phylogenetic analyses revealed that an ancestral PIF-like gene was already present in streptophyte algae, i.e., before the water-to-land transition of plants. The PIF homologs in the genome ofP. patensresemble Arabidopsis PIFs in their protein domain structure, molecular properties, and physiological effects, albeit with notable differences in the motif-dependent PHY interaction. Our results suggest thatP. patensPIFs are involved in PHY signaling. The PHY-PIF signaling node that relays light signals to target genes has been largely conserved during land plant evolution, with evidence of lineage-specific diversification.
authors.affiliation: Center for Plant Molecular Biology, University of Tübingen, 72076 Tübingen, Germany anja.possart@zmbp.uni-tuebingen.de andreas.hiltbrunner@biologie.uni-freiburg.de.|Faculty of Biology, University of Freiburg, 79104 Freiburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Anja
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-2934-4179
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Possart
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Biology, University of Freiburg, 79104 Freiburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Tengfei
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biosciences and The Institute for Cellular and Molecular Biology, University of Texas, Austin, Texas 78712.
authors.forename: Inyup
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Paik
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Biology, University of Marburg, 35043 Marburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Sebastian
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hanke
authors.affiliation: Center for Plant Molecular Biology, University of Tübingen, 72076 Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Keim
authors.affiliation: Center for Plant Molecular Biology, University of Tübingen, 72076 Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Helen-Maria
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Hermann
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Biology, University of Marburg, 35043 Marburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Luise
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wolf
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Biology, University of Marburg, 35043 Marburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-7876-783X
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hiß
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology, Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology, 72076 Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Claude
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Becker
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biosciences and The Institute for Cellular and Molecular Biology, University of Texas, Austin, Texas 78712.
authors.forename: Enamul
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-7692-5139
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Huq
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Biology, University of Marburg, 35043 Marburg, Germany.|BIOSS Centre for Biological Signalling Studies, University of Freiburg, 79104 Freiburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Stefan A
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-0225-873X
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Rensing
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Biology, University of Freiburg, 79104 Freiburg, Germany anja.possart@zmbp.uni-tuebingen.de andreas.hiltbrunner@biologie.uni-freiburg.de.|BIOSS Centre for Biological Signalling Studies, University of Freiburg, 79104 Freiburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-0438-5297
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hiltbrunner
mesh_terms: D020816:Amino Acid Motifs; D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000235:genetics; D019068:Bryopsida / Q000378:metabolism*; D017124:Conserved Sequence; D017343:Genes, Plant; D010802:Phylogeny; D010834:Phytochrome / Q000378:metabolism; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D015398:Signal Transduction; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D010940:Plant Proteins; D014157:Transcription Factors; D010834:Phytochrome