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Plant function and evolutionary biology
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Two native types of phytochrome A, phyAʹ and phyAʹʹ, differ by the state of phosphorylation at the N-terminus as revealed by fluorescence investigations of the Ser/Ala mutant of rice phyA expressed in transgenic Arabidopsis

Vitaly A. Sineshchekov A C , Larissa A. Koppel A and Cordelia Bolle B
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Biology Department, MV Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow 119 234, Russia.

B Biology Department, Ludwig Maximilian University, München, D–82 152 Planegg-Martinsried, Germany.

C Corresponding author. Email: vsineshchekov@gmail.com

This paper originates from a presentation at the Fourth International Symposium on Plant Signaling and Behavior, Komarov Botanical Institute RAS/Russian Science Foundation, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 1923 June 2016.

Functional Plant Biology 45(2) 150-159 https://doi.org/10.1071/FP16261
Submitted: 23 July 2016  Accepted: 1 November 2016   Published: 30 November 2016

Abstract

Phytochrome A (phyA) mediates different photoresponses what may be connected with the existence of its two types, phyAʹ and phyAʹʹ, differing by spectroscopic, photochemical and functional properties. We investigated a role of phyA phosphorylation in their formation turning to transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana (L. Heynh.) phyA or phyAphyB mutants overexpressing rice wild-type phyA (phyA WT) or mutant phyA (phyA SA) with the first 10 serines substituted by alanines. This prevents phyA phosphorylation at these sites and modifies photoresponses. Etiolated seedlings were employed and phyA parameters were evaluated with the use of low temperature fluorescence spectroscopy and photochemistry. Germination of seeds was induced by white light (WL) pre-treatment for 15 min or 3 h. Emission spectra of rice phyA WT and phyA SA were similar and their total content was comparable. However, the phyAʹ/phyAʹʹ proportion in phyA WT was high and varied with the duration of the WL pre-treatment, whereas in phyA SA it was substantially shifted towards phyAʹʹ and did not depend on the pre-illumination. This suggests that phyA SA comprises primarily or exclusively the phyAʹʹ pool and supports the notion that the two phyA types differ by the state of serine phosphorylation. phyAʹʹ was also found to be much more effective in the germination induction than phyAʹ.

Additional keywords: fluorescence, native pools, photochemistry, photoresponses, post-translational modification.


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