Abstract
The occurrence of phytochrome-mediated highirradiance responses (HIR), previously characterised largely in dicotyledonous plants, was investigated in Triticum aestivum L., Zea mays L., Lolium multiflorum Lam. and in both wild-type Oryza sativa L. and in transgenic plants overexpressing oat phytochrome A under the control of a 35S promoter. Coleoptile growth was promoted (maize, ryegrass) or inhibited (wild-type rice) by continuous far-red light (FRc). However, at equal fluences, hourly pulses of far-red light (FRp) were equally effective, indicating that the growth responses to FRc were not true HIR. In contrast, in maize and rice, FRc increased anthocyanin content in the coleoptile in a fluence-rate dependent manner. This response was a true HIR as FRp had reduced effects. In maize, anthocyanin levels were significantly higher under FRc than under continuous red light. In rice, overexpression of phytochrome A increased the inhibition of coleoptile growth and the levels of anthocyanin under FRc but not under FRp or under continuous red light. The effect of FRc was fluence-rate dependent. In light-grown rice, overexpression of phytochrome A reduced leaf-sheath length, impaired the response to supplementary far-red light, but did not affect the response to canopy shade-light. In grasses, typical HIR, i.e. fluence-rate dependent responses showing reciprocity failure, can be induced by FRc. Under FRc, overexpressed phytochrome A operates through this action mode in transgenic rice.
Similar content being viewed by others
Abbreviations
- FR:
-
far-red light
- FRc:
-
continuous far-red light
- FRp:
-
pulses of far-red light
- HIR:
-
high-irradiance responses
- LFR:
-
low-fluence responses
- OPHYA:
-
transgenic rice overexpressing oat phytochrome A
- Pfr:
-
far-red light-absorbing form of phytochrome
- phyA:
-
phytochrome A
- R:
-
red light
- Rc:
-
continuous red light
- VLFR:
-
very low-fluence responses
- WT:
-
wildtype
References
Beggs CJ, Wellmann E (1985) Analysis of light-controlled anthocyanin formation in coleoptiles of Zea mays L.: The role of UV-B, blue, red and far-red light. Photochem Photobiol 41:481–486
Botto JF, Sánchez RA, Whitelam GC, Casal JJ (1996 Phytochrome A mediates the promotion of seed germination by very low fluences of light and canopy shade light in Arabidopsis. Plant Physiol 110: 439–444
Carr-Smith HD, Johnson CB, Thomas B (1989) Action spectrum for the effect of day-extensions on flowering and apex elongation in green, light-grown wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). Planta 179: 428–432
Casal JJ (1995) Coupling of phytochrome B to the control of hypocotyl growth in Arabidopsis. Planta 196: 23–29
Casal JJ, Deregibus VA, Sánchez RA (1985) Variations in tiller dynamics and morphology in Lolium multiflorum Lam. vegetative and reproductive plants as affected by differences in red/far-red irradiation. Ann Bot 56: 553–559
Casal JJ, Sánchez RA (1994) Overexpression of oat phytochrome A gene differentially affects stem growth responses to red/far-red ratio signals characteristic of sparse or dense canopies. Plant Cell Environ 17: 409–417
Casal JJ, Sánchez RA, Di Benedetto AH, De Miguel LC (1991) Light promotion of seed germination in Datura ferox is mediated by a highly stable pool of phytochrome. Photochem Photobiol 53: 249–254
Casal JJ, Sánchez RA, Vierstra RD (1994) Avena phytochrome A overexpressed in transgenic tobacco seedlings differentially affects red/far-red reversible and very-low-fluence responses (cotyledon unfolding) during de-etiolation. Planta 192: 306–309
Clack T, Mathews S, Sharrock RA (1994) The phytochrome apoprotein family in Arabidopsis is encoded by five genes: the sequences and expression of PHYD and PHYE. Plant Mol Biol 25: 413–427
Clough RC, Casal JJ, Jordan ET, Christou P, Vierstra RD (1995) Expression of functional oat phytochrome A in transgenic rice. Plant Physiol 109: 1039–1045
Dehesh K, Franci C, Parks BM, Seeley KA, Short TW, Tepperman JM, Quail PH (1993) Arabidopsis HY8 locus encodes phytochrome A. Plant Cell 5: 1081–1088
de Lint PJAL (1957) Double action of near infrared in length growth of the Avena coleoptile. Mendedelingen van de Landbouwhogeschool te Wageningen/Nederland 57: 1–9
Drumm H, Mohr H (1978) The mode of interaction between blue (UV) light photoreceptor and phytochrome in anthocyanin formation of the Sorghum seedling. Photochem Photobiol 27: 241–248
Epstein E (1972) Mineral nutrition of Plants: Principles and perspectives. John Wiley and Sons, New York
Heim B, Schäfer E (1982) Light-controlled inhibition of hypocotyl growth in Sinapis alba L. seedlings. Planta 154: 150–155
Heim B, Schäfer E (1984) The effect of red and far-red light in the high irradiance reaction of phytochrome (hypocotyl growth in dark-grown Sinapis alba L.). Plant Cell Environ 7: 39–44
Kronenberg GHM, Kendrick RE (1986) The physiology of action. In: Kendrick RE, Kronenberg GHM (eds) Photomorphogenesis in plants, Marthinus Nijhoff Publishers, Dordrecht, The Netherlands, pp 99–114
Mancinelli AL, Rabino I (1975) Photocontrol of anthocyanin synthesis IV. Dose dependence and reciprocity relationships in anthocyanin synthesis. Plant Physiol 56: 351–355
Mancinelli AL, Rossi F, Moroni A (1991) Cryptochrome, phytochrome and anthocyanin production. Plant Physiol 96: 1079–1085
Mandoli DF, Briggs WR (1981) Phytochrome control of two lowirradiance responses in etiolated oat seedlings. Plant Physiol 67: 733–739
McCormac AC, Cherry JR, Hershey HP, Vierstra RD, Smith H (1991) Photoresponses of transgenic tobacco plants expressing an oat phytochrome gene. Planta 185: 126–170
McCormac AC, Wagner D, Boylan MT, Quail PH, Smith H, Whitelam GC (1993) Photoresponses of transgenic Arabidopsis seedlings expressing introduced phytochrome B-encoding cDNAs: evidence that phytochrome A and phytochrome B have distinct photoregulatory functions. Plant J 4: 19–27
McCormac A, Whitelam GC, Smith H (1992) Light-grown plants of transgenic tobacco expressing an introduced oat phytochrome A gene under the control of a constitutive viral promoter exhibit persistent growth inhibition by far-red light. Planta 188: 173–181
Mohr H (1986) Coaction between pigment systems. In: Kendrick RE, Kronenberg GHM (eds) Photomorphogenesis in plants. Marthinus Nijhoff Publishers, Dordrecht, The Netherlands, pp 547–585
Mösinger E, Batschauer A, Apel K, Schäfer E, Briggs E (1988) Phytochrome regulation of greening in barley. Effects on mRNA abundance and on transcriptional activity of isolated nuclei. Plant Physiol 86: 706–710
Nagatani A, Reed JW, Chory J (1993) Isolation and initial characterization of Arabidopsis mutants that are deficient in Phytochrome A. Plant Physiol 102: 269–277
Parks B, Quail P (1993) hy8, a new class of Arabidopsis long hypocotyl mutants deficient in functional phytochrome A. Plant Cell 5: 39–48
Poppe C, Ehmann B, Frohnmeyer H, Furuya M, Schäfer E (1994) Regulation of phytochrome A mRNA abundance in parsley seedlings and cell-suspension cultures. Plant Mol Biol 26: 481–486
Schäfer E, Lassig TU, Schopfer P (1982) Phytochrome-controlled extension growth of Avena saliva L. seedlings II. Fluence rate response relationships and action spectra of mesocotyl and coleoptile responses. Planta 154: 231–240
Sharma R, Sopory SK, Guha-Mukherjee S (1976) Phytochrome regulation of peroxidase activity in maize. Plant Sci Let 6: 69–75
Uematsu H, Hosoda H, Furuya M (1981) Biphasic effect of red light on the growth of coleoptiles in etiolated barley seedlings. Bot Mag Tokyo 94: 273–283
Whitelam GC, Johnson E, Peng J, Carol P, Anderson ML, Cowl JS, Harberd NP (1993) Phytochrome A null mutants of Arabidopsis display a wild-type phenotype in white light. Plant Cell 5: 757–768
Whitelam GC, McCormac AC, Boylan MT, Quail PH (1992) Photoresponses of Arabidopsis seedlings expressing an introduced oat phyA cDNA: persistence of etiolated plant type responses in light-grown plants. Photochem Photobiol 56: 617–621
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
We thank Marcelo J. Yanovsky for his help with the photographs and Professor Rodolfo A. Sanchez for providing a reprint of the paper by P.J.A.L. de Lint. This work was supported by grants from UBA (AG041) and Fundacion Antorchas (A-13218/1-15) to J.J.C.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Casal, J.J., Clough, R.C. & Vierstra, R.D. High-irradiance responses induced by far-red light in grass seedlings of the wild type or overexpressing phytochrome A. Planta 200, 132–137 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00196660
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00196660