The epidermis coordinates thermoresponsive growth through the phyB-PIF4-auxin pathway

Sara Kim, Geonhee Hwang, Soohwan Kim, Thom Nguyen Thi, Hanim Kim, Jinkil Jeong, Jaewook Kim, Jungmook Kim, Giltsu Choi and Eunkyoo Oh ()
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Sara Kim: Korea University
Geonhee Hwang: Korea University
Soohwan Kim: Korea University
Thom Nguyen Thi: Chonnam National University
Hanim Kim: KAIST
Jinkil Jeong: Salk Institute for Biological Studies
Jaewook Kim: Kyushu University
Jungmook Kim: Chonnam National University
Giltsu Choi: KAIST
Eunkyoo Oh: Korea University

Nature Communications, 2020, vol. 11, issue 1, 1-13

Abstract: Abstract In plants, an elevation in ambient temperature induces adaptive morphological changes including elongated hypocotyls, which is predominantly regulated by a bHLH transcription factor, PIF4. Although PIF4 is expressed in all aerial tissues including the epidermis, mesophyll, and vascular bundle, its tissue-specific functions in thermomorphogenesis are not known. Here, we show that epidermis-specific expression of PIF4 induces constitutive long hypocotyls, while vasculature-specific expression of PIF4 has no effect on hypocotyl growth. RNA-Seq and qRT-PCR analyses reveal that auxin-responsive genes and growth-related genes are highly activated by epidermal, but not by vascular, PIF4. Additionally, inactivation of epidermal PIF4 or auxin signaling, and overexpression of epidermal phyB suppresses thermoresponsive growth, indicating that epidermal PIF4-auxin pathways are essential for the temperature responses. Further, we show that high temperatures increase both epidermal PIF4 transcription and the epidermal PIF4 DNA-binding ability. Taken together, our study demonstrates that the epidermis regulates thermoresponsive growth through the phyB-PIF4-auxin pathway.

Date: 2020
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-14905-w

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