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Light-quality regulation of freezing tolerance in Arabidopsis thaliana

Nature Genetics volume 39, pages 1410–1413 (2007)Cite this article

Abstract

To acquire freezing tolerance, higher plants require a period of low temperature (usually <4 °C) termed cold acclimation. Upon transfer of plants to low temperature, increased expression of the CRT/DRE binding factor (CBF) family of transcriptional activators leads to the upregulation of genes containing a C-repeat/drought-responsive (CRT/DRE) promoter element and metabolic changes that enhance tolerance to subzero temperatures1. Here, we show that a low red to far-red ratio (R/FR) light signal increases CBF gene expression in Arabidopsis thaliana in a manner dependent on the circadian clock. This light quality–dependent increase in CBF expression is sufficient to confer freezing tolerance at temperatures higher than those required for cold acclimation. Furthermore, the use of light-quality signals to stimulate CBF expression has revealed ambient temperature–dependent coupling of CBF transcription factors to downstream CO LD R EGULATED (COR) genes, providing evidence for a second temperature-regulated step in this pathway.

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Figure 1: Phytochrome regulation of the CBF regulon.
Figure 2: Circadian-gated de-repression of CBF transcription factors by low R/FR.
Figure 3: Ambient-temperature regulation of CBF transcript abundance in low R/FR and involvement of SFR6 in the light-quality regulation of COR15a.
Figure 4: Light-quality and ambient-temperature regulation of COR15a transcript abundance in fve mutants.
Figure 5: Light-quality regulation of freezing tolerance.
Figure 6: Proposed model of CBF regulon regulation by light quality and temperature.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank M. Knight and H. Knight for provision of sfr6 seed. This work has been supported by grants from the UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council to G.C.W. and K.A.F. and from the Royal Society to K.A.F. K.A.F. is a Royal Society University Research Fellow.

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  1. Department of Biology, University of Leicester, Leicester, LE1 7RH, UK

    Keara A Franklin & Garry C Whitelam

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  1. Keara A Franklin
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Contributions

K.A.F. carried out all the experimental work. G.C.W. and K.A.F. contributed equally to experimental design and interpretation.

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Correspondence to Keara A Franklin.

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Supplementary Figures 1–3, Supplementary Table 1 (PDF 67 kb)

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Franklin, K., Whitelam, G. Light-quality regulation of freezing tolerance in Arabidopsis thaliana. Nat Genet 39, 1410–1413 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/ng.2007.3

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