Transcription Factors in Light Signaling: Differences between Angiosperms and Gymnosperms

A special issue of Cells (ISSN 2073-4409). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant, Algae and Fungi Cell Biology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (25 February 2023) | Viewed by 6585

Special Issue Editors


grade E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
К.А. Timiryazev Institute of Plant Physiology RAS, 35 Botanicheskaya St., 12 7276 Moscow, Russia
Interests: photosynthesis; plant physiology; environmental stress; abiotic stress; UV radiation; photoreceptor signalling; cyanobacteria; algal; ROS; nonphotochemical quenching (NPQ); chlorophyll fluorescence; salt stress; hydrogen energy; artificial photosynthesis
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
K.A. Timiryazev Institute of Plant Physiology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Botanicheskaya Street 35, 127276 Moscow, Russia
Interests: light signaling; RNA interference; improved plant nutrition due to light quality
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues, 

The study of the mechanisms of light perception and signal transduction in plants has shown the existence of a coordinated signaling network that includes many types of regulation. A wide range of visible light wavelengths is sensed by certain families of photoreceptors: phytochromes for red and far-red light; phototropins and cryptochromes for UV-A and blue light; and UVR8 for UV-B. The effect of light on plants is realized at the level of seed germination, photomorphogenesis, flowering, and many other physiological processes. In addition to photoreceptors, light signaling is due to the functioning of transcription factors (PIF, HYH/HY5, ВВХ, FHY3, FAR1, MYB, CIB1 etc.) and some signaling proteins such as DET1.

Gymnosperms, bryophytes, ferns and lycopsids differ from angiosperms both in the number of photoreceptors and in the features of light signaling, in which various transcription factors play a key role. It is known that gymnosperms have a phytochrome system which is different from those of other plants and also have the ability to synthesize chlorophyll in the dark due to the presence of genes of light-independent protochlorophyllide oxidoreductase. Mosses have one phytochrome and phytochrome interacting factor, and ferns not only have a large number of cryptochrome genes, but also non-light-dependent stomatal movement. All these processes are due to the functioning of light-dependent transcription factors, which can both enhance the light responses of plants and attenuate them. In addition, they demonstrate the interaction with various components of hormonal and ROS signaling systems, which expands their regulatory potential.

This Special Issue will examine the role of transcription factors in the processes of photosynthesis, light signaling, as well as the biosynthesis of pigments and secondary metabolites in angiosperms, gymnosperms, bryophytes, ferns and lycopsid plants.

Prof. Dr. Suleyman Allakhverdiev
Dr. Pavel Pashkovskiy
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Cells is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • transcription factors
  • photosynthesis
  • light signaling
  • photomorphogenesis

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • e-Book format: Special Issues with more than 10 articles can be published as dedicated e-books, ensuring wide and rapid dissemination.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue polices can be found here.

Published Papers (3 papers)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

15 pages, 2795 KiB  
Article
Independent Responses of Photosynthesis and Plant Morphology to Alterations of PIF Proteins and Light-Dependent MicroRNA Contents in Arabidopsis thaliana pif Mutants Grown under Lights of Different Spectral Compositions
by Pavel Pashkovskiy, Vladimir Kreslavski, Alexandra Khudyakova, Elena S. Pojidaeva, Anatoliy Kosobryukhov, Vladimir Kuznetsov and Suleyman I. Allakhverdiev
Cells 2022, 11(24), 3981; https://doi.org/10.3390/cells11243981 - 9 Dec 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1814
Abstract
The effects of the quality of light on the content of phytochrome interacting factors (PIFs) such as PIF3, PIF4 and PIF5, as well as the expression of various light-dependent microRNAs, in adult Arabidopsis thaliana pif mutant plants (pif4, pif5, pif3pif5 [...] Read more.
The effects of the quality of light on the content of phytochrome interacting factors (PIFs) such as PIF3, PIF4 and PIF5, as well as the expression of various light-dependent microRNAs, in adult Arabidopsis thaliana pif mutant plants (pif4, pif5, pif3pif5, pif4pif5, pif3pif4pif5) were studied. We demonstrate that under blue light, the pif4 mutant had maximal expression of most of the studied microRNAs (miR163, miR319, miR398, miR408, miR833) when the PIF4 protein in plants was reduced. This finding indicates that the PIF4 protein is involved in the downregulation of this group of microRNAs. This assumption is additionally confirmed by the fact that under the RL spectrum in pif5 mutants, practically the same miRNAs decrease expression against the background of an increase in the amount of PIF4 protein. Unlike the WT and other mutants, the pif4 mutant responded to the BL spectrum not only by activating the expression of light-dependent miRNAs, but also by a significant increase in the expression of transcription factors and key light signalling genes. These molecular reactions do not affect the activity of photosynthesis but may be involved in the formation of a light quality-dependent phenotype. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

18 pages, 1486 KiB  
Article
Manganese Deficiency Suppresses Growth and Photosynthetic Processes but Causes an Increase in the Expression of Photosynthetic Genes in Scots Pine Seedlings
by Yury V. Ivanov, Pavel P. Pashkovskiy, Alexandra I. Ivanova, Alexander V. Kartashov and Vladimir V. Kuznetsov
Cells 2022, 11(23), 3814; https://doi.org/10.3390/cells11233814 - 28 Nov 2022
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 1502
Abstract
Manganese deficiency is a serious plant nutritional disorder, resulting in the loss of crop productivity in many parts of the world. Despite the progress made in the study of angiosperms, the demand for Mn in gymnosperms and the physiological responses to Mn deficiency [...] Read more.
Manganese deficiency is a serious plant nutritional disorder, resulting in the loss of crop productivity in many parts of the world. Despite the progress made in the study of angiosperms, the demand for Mn in gymnosperms and the physiological responses to Mn deficiency remain unexplored. We studied the influence of Mn deficiency for 24 weeks on Pinus sylvestris L. seedling growth, ion homeostasis, pigment contents, lipid peroxidation, chlorophyll fluorescence indices and the transcript levels of photosynthetic genes and genes involved in chlorophyll biosynthesis. It was shown that Mn-deficient plants demonstrated suppressed growth when the Mn content in the needles decreased below 0.34 µmol/g DW. The contents of photosynthetic pigments decreased when the Mn content in the needles reached 0.10 µmol/g DW. Mn deficiency per se did not lead to a decrease in the nutrient content in the organs of seedlings. Photoinhibition of PSII was observed in Mn-deficient plants, although this was not accompanied by the development of oxidative stress. Mn-deficient plants had an increased transcript abundance of genes (psbO, psbP, psbQ, psbA and psbC), encoding proteins directly associated with the Mn cluster also as other proteins involved in photosynthesis, whose activities do not depend on Mn directly. Furthermore, the transcript levels of the genes encoding the large subunit of Rubisco, light-dependent NADPH-protochlorophyllide oxidoreductase and subunits of light-independent protochlorophyllide reductase were also increased in Mn-deficient plants. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

16 pages, 4132 KiB  
Article
Effect of Phytochrome Deficiency on Photosynthesis, Light-Related Genes Expression and Flavonoid Accumulation in Solanum lycopersicum under Red and Blue Light
by Pavel Pashkovskiy, Mikhail Vereshchagin, Vladimir Kreslavski, Yury Ivanov, Tamara Kumachova, Andrey Ryabchenko, Alexander Voronkov, Anatoliy Kosobryukhov, Vladimir Kuznetsov and Suleyman I. Allakhverdiev
Cells 2022, 11(21), 3437; https://doi.org/10.3390/cells11213437 - 31 Oct 2022
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2434
Abstract
The effect of red (RL, 660 nm) and blue (BL, 450 nm) light on phy mutant tomato plants was studied. The rates of photosynthesis (Pn) and transpiration, the efficiency of the primary photochemical processes of photosynthesis, the contents of flavonoids and phenolic compounds, [...] Read more.
The effect of red (RL, 660 nm) and blue (BL, 450 nm) light on phy mutant tomato plants was studied. The rates of photosynthesis (Pn) and transpiration, the efficiency of the primary photochemical processes of photosynthesis, the contents of flavonoids and phenolic compounds, the low-molecular-weight antioxidant capacity (Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC)) of leaf extracts, and the expression of light-dependent genes were evaluated. Under RL, BL, and white fluorescent light (WFL), the Pn values decreased in the order: WT > phyb2 > phyaphyb2 > phyaphyb1phyb2, except for the Pn in phyb2 on BL. Phyb2 also had a larger number of stomata under BL and, as a result, it reached maximum transpiration. The noticeable accumulation of flavonoids and phenolic compounds was observed only in the phyb2 and phyaphyb2 mutants upon irradiation with BL, which agrees with the increased TEAC in the leaf extracts. We suggest that the increased antioxidant activity under PHYB2 deficiency and the maintenance of high photosynthesis under BL are based on an increase in the expression of the early signaling transcription factors genes BBX, HY5. The largest decrease in the content of flavonoids and TEAC was manifested with a deficiency in PHYB1, which is probably the key to maintaining the antioxidant status in BL plants. Full article
Show Figures

Graphical abstract

Back to TopTop