NUA positively regulates plant immunity by coordination with ESD4 to deSUMOylate TPR1 in Arabidopsis.

Nuclear pore complex (NPC) is composed of multiple nucleoporins (Nups). A plethora of studies have highlighted the significance of NPC in plant immunity. However, the specific roles of individual Nups are poorly understood. NUCLEAR PORE ANCHOR (NUA) is a component of NPC. Loss of NUA leads to an increase in SUMO conjugates and pleiotropic developmental defects in Arabidopsis thaliana. Herein, we revealed that NUA is required for plant defense against multiple pathogens. NUCLEAR PORE ANCHOR associates with the transcriptional corepressor TOPLESS-RELATED1 (TPR1) and contributes to TPR1 deSUMOylation. Significantly, NUA-interacting protein EARLY IN SHORT DAYS 4 (ESD4), a SUMO protease, specifically deSUMOylates TPR1. It has been previously established that the SUMO E3 ligase SAP AND MIZ1 DOMAIN-CONTAINING LIGASE 1 (SIZ1)-mediated SUMOylation of TPR1 represses the immune-related function of TPR1. Consistent with this notion, the hyper-SUMOylated TPR1 in nua-3 leads to upregulated expression of TPR1 target genes and compromised TPR1-mediated disease resistance. Taken together, our work uncovers a mechanism by which NUA positively regulates plant defense responses by coordination with ESD4 to deSUMOylate TPR1. Our findings, together with previous studies, reveal a regulatory module in which SIZ1 and NUA/ESD4 control the homeostasis of TPR1 SUMOylation to maintain proper immune output.

The Na+/H+ antiporter SALT OVERLY SENSITIVE 1 regulates salt compensation of circadian rhythms by stabilizing GIGANTEA in Arabidopsis.

The circadian clock is a timekeeping, homeostatic system that temporally coordinates all major cellular processes. The function of the circadian clock is compensated in the face of variable environmental conditions ranging from normal to stress-inducing conditions. Salinity is a critical environmental factor affecting plant growth, and plants have evolved the SALT OVERLY SENSITIVE (SOS) pathway to acquire halotolerance. However, the regulatory systems for clock compensation under salinity are unclear. Here, we show that the plasma membrane Na+/H+ antiporter SOS1 specifically functions as a salt-specific circadian clock regulator via GIGANTEA (GI) in Arabidopsis thaliana. SOS1 directly interacts with GI in a salt-dependent manner and stabilizes this protein to sustain a proper clock period under salinity conditions. SOS1 function in circadian clock regulation requires the salt-mediated secondary messengers cytosolic free calcium and reactive oxygen species, pointing to a distinct regulatory role for SOS1 in addition to its function as a transporter to maintain Na+ homeostasis. Our results demonstrate that SOS1 maintains homeostasis of the salt response under high or daily fluctuating salt levels. These findings highlight the genetic capacity of the circadian clock to maintain timekeeping activity over a broad range of salinity levels.

Modelling of plant circadian clock for characterizing hypocotyl growth under different light quality conditions.

To meet the ever-increasing global food demand, the food production rate needs to be increased significantly in the near future. Speed breeding is considered as a promising agricultural technology solution to achieve the zero-hunger vision as specified in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 2. In speed breeding, the photoperiod of the artificial light has been manipulated to enhance crop productivity. In particular, regulating the photoperiod of different light qualities rather than solely white light can further improve speed breading. However, identifying the optimal light quality and the associated photoperiod simultaneously remains a challenging open problem due to complex interactions between multiple photoreceptors and proteins controlling plant growth. To tackle this, we develop a first comprehensive model describing the profound effect of multiple light qualities with different photoperiods on plant growth (i.e. hypocotyl growth). The model predicts that hypocotyls elongated more under red light compared to both red and blue light. Drawing similar findings from previous related studies, we propose that this might result from the competitive binding of red and blue light receptors, primarily Phytochrome B (phyB) and Cryptochrome 1 (cry1) for the core photomorphogenic regulator, CONSTITUTIVE PHOTOMORPHOGENIC 1 (COP1). This prediction is validated through an experimental study on Arabidopsis thaliana. Our work proposes a potential molecular mechanism underlying plant growth under different light qualities and ultimately suggests an optimal breeding protocol that takes into account light quality.

Frequency, composition and mobility of Escherichia coli-derived transposable elements in holdings of plasmid repositories.

By providing the scientific community with uniform and standardized resources of consistent quality, plasmid repositories play an important role in enabling scientific reproducibility. Plasmids containing insertion sequence elements (IS elements) represent a challenge from this perspective, as they can change the plasmid structure and function. In this study, we conducted a systematic analysis of a subset of plasmid stocks distributed by plasmid repositories (The Arabidopsis Biological Resource Center and Addgene) which carry unintended integrations of bacterial mobile genetic elements. The integration of insertion sequences was most often found in, but not limited to, pBR322-derived vectors, and did not affect the function of the specific plasmids. In certain cases, the entire stock was affected, but the majority of the stocks tested contained a mixture of the wild-type and the mutated plasmids, suggesting that the acquisition of IS elements likely occurred after the plasmids were acquired by the repositories. However, comparison of the sequencing results of the original samples revealed that some plasmids already carried insertion mutations at the time of donation. While an extensive BLAST analysis of 47 877 plasmids sequenced from the Addgene repository uncovered IS elements in only 1.12%, suggesting that IS contamination is not widespread, further tests showed that plasmid integration of IS elements can propagate in conventional Escherichia coli hosts over a few tens of generations. Use of IS-free E. coli hosts prevented the emergence of IS insertions as well as that of small indels, suggesting that the use of IS-free hosts by donors and repositories could help limit unexpected and unwanted IS integrations into plasmids.

TOC1 clock protein phosphorylation controls complex formation with NF-YB/C to repress hypocotyl growth.

Plant photoperiodic growth is coordinated by interactions between circadian clock and light signaling networks. How post-translational modifications of clock proteins affect these interactions to mediate rhythmic growth remains unclear. Here, we identify five phosphorylation sites in the Arabidopsis core clock protein TIMING OF CAB EXPRESSION 1 (TOC1) which when mutated to alanine eliminate detectable phosphorylation. The TOC1 phospho-mutant fails to fully rescue the clock, growth, and flowering phenotypes of the toc1 mutant. Further, the TOC1 phospho-mutant shows advanced phase, a faster degradation rate, reduced interactions with PHYTOCHROME-INTERACTING FACTOR 3 (PIF3) and HISTONE DEACETYLASE 15 (HDA15), and poor binding at pre-dawn hypocotyl growth-related genes (PHGs), leading to a net de-repression of hypocotyl growth. NUCLEAR FACTOR Y subunits B and C (NF-YB/C) stabilize TOC1 at target promoters, and this novel trimeric complex (NF-TOC1) acts as a transcriptional co-repressor with HDA15 to inhibit PIF-mediated hypocotyl elongation. Collectively, we identify a molecular mechanism suggesting how phosphorylation of TOC1 alters its phase, stability, and physical interactions with co-regulators to precisely phase PHG expression to control photoperiodic hypocotyl growth.

Cost-effective circadian mechanism: rhythmic degradation of circadian proteins spontaneously emerges without rhythmic post-translational regulation.

Circadian protein oscillations are maintained by the lifelong repetition of protein production and degradation in daily balance. It comes at the cost of ever-replayed, futile protein synthesis each day. This biosynthetic cost with a given oscillatory protein profile is relievable by a rhythmic, not constant, degradation rate that selectively peaks at the right time of day but remains low elsewhere, saving much of the gross protein loss and of the replenishing protein synthesis. Here, our mathematical modeling reveals that the rhythmic degradation rate of proteins with circadian production spontaneously emerges under steady and limited activity of proteolytic mediators and does not necessarily require rhythmic post-translational regulation of previous focus. Additional (yet steady) post-translational modifications in a proteolytic pathway can further facilitate the degradation's rhythmicity in favor of the biosynthetic cost saving. Our work is supported by animal and plant circadian data, offering a generic mechanism for potentially widespread, time-dependent protein turnover.

Post-Translational Mechanisms of Plant Circadian Regulation.

The molecular components of the circadian system possess the interesting feature of acting together to create a self-sustaining oscillator, while at the same time acting individually, and in complexes, to confer phase-specific circadian control over a wide range of physiological and developmental outputs. This means that many circadian oscillator proteins are simultaneously also part of the circadian output pathway. Most studies have focused on transcriptional control of circadian rhythms, but work in plants and metazoans has shown the importance of post-transcriptional and post-translational processes within the circadian system. Here we highlight recent work describing post-translational mechanisms that impact both the function of the oscillator and the clock-controlled outputs.

Handling Arabidopsis and Other Brassicaceae: Growth, Preservation of Seeds, Transformation, and Genetic Crosses.

Achieving optimal plant growth is essential for the advancement of Arabidopsis thaliana (Arabidopsis) research. Over the last 20 years, the Arabidopsis Biological Resource Center (ABRC) has collected and developed a series of best-practice protocols, some of which are presented in this chapter. Arabidopsis can be grown in a variety of locations, growth media, and environmental conditions. Some mutant genotypes, natural accessions, and Arabidopsis relatives require strictly controlled growth conditions best provided by growth rooms, chambers, or incubators. Other lines can be grown in less-controlled greenhouse settings. Although the majority of lines can be grown in soil, certain experimental purposes require utilization of sterile solid or liquid growth media. These include the selection of primary transformants, identification of homozygous lethal individuals in a segregating population, or bulking of a large amount of plant material. The importance of controlling, observing, and recording growth conditions is emphasized and appropriate equipment for monitoring these conditions is listed. Proper conditions for seed harvest and preservation, as well as seed quality control procedures, are also described. In addition, plant transformation and genetic crosses, two of the methods that revolutionized Arabidopsis genetics, are discussed.

Compensatory Mutations in GI and ZTL May Modulate Temperature Compensation in the Circadian Clock.

Circadian systems share the three properties of entrainment, free-running period, and temperature compensation (TC). TC ensures nearly the same period over a broad range of physiologically relevant temperatures; however, the mechanisms behind TC remain poorly understood. Here, we identify single point mutations in two key elements of the Arabidopsis circadian clock, GIGANTEA (GI) and ZEITLUPE (ZTL), which likely act as compensatory substitutions to establish a remarkably constant free-running period over a wide range of temperatures. Using near-isogenic lines generated from the introgression of the Cape Verde Islands (Cvi) alleles of GI and ZTL into the Landsberg erecta (Ler) background, we show how longer periods in the Cvi background at higher temperatures correlate with a difference in strength of the GI/ZTL interaction. Pairwise interaction testing of all GI/ZTL allelic combinations shows similar affinities for isogenic alleles at 22°C, but very poor interaction between GI (Cvi) and ZTL (Cvi) at higher temperature. In vivo, this would result in lower ZTL levels at high temperatures leading to longer periods in the Cvi background. Mismatched allelic combinations result in extremely strong or weak GI/ZTL interactions, indicating how the corresponding natural variants likely became fixed through epistatic selection. Additionally, molecular characterization of GI (Cvi) reveals a novel functional motif that can modulate the GI/ZTL interaction as well as nucleocytoplasmic partitioning. Taken together, these results identify a plausible temperature-dependent molecular mechanism, which contributes to the robustness of TC through natural variation in GI and ZTL alleles found on the Cape Verde Islands.

Corrigendum: Luciferase-Based Screen for Post-Translational Control Factors in the Regulation of the Pseudo-Response Regulator PRR7.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2019.00667.].

Luciferase-Based Screen for Post-translational Control Factors in the Regulation of the Pseudo-Response Regulator PRR7.

Control of protein turnover is a key post-translational control point in the oscillatory network of the circadian clock. Some elements, such as TOC1 and PRR5 are engaged by a well-described F-box protein, ZEITLUPE, dedicated to their proteolytic turnover to shape their expression profile to a specific time of night. For most other clock components the regulation of their protein abundance is unknown, though turnover is often rapid and often lags the cycling of the respective mRNA. Here we report the design and results of an unbiased genetic screen in Arabidopsis to uncover proteolytic regulatory factors of PSEUDO-RESPONSE REGULATOR 7 (PRR7), a transcriptional repressor that peaks in the late afternoon. We performed EMS mutagenesis on a transgenic line expressing a PRR7::PRR7-luciferase (PRR7-LUC) translational fusion that accurately recapitulates the diurnal and circadian oscillations of the endogenous PRR7 protein. Using continuous luciferase imaging under constant light, we recovered mutants that alter the PRR7-LUC waveform and some that change period. We have identified novel alleles of ELF3 and ELF4, core components of the ELF3-ELF4-LUX Evening Complex (EC), that dampen the oscillation of PRR7-LUC. We report the characterization of two new hypomorphic alleles of ELF3 that help to understand the relationship between molecular potency and phenotype.

Waveforms of molecular oscillations reveal circadian timekeeping mechanisms.

Circadian clocks play a pivotal role in orchestrating numerous physiological and developmental events. Waveform shapes of the oscillations of protein abundances can be informative about the underlying biochemical processes of circadian clocks. We derive a mathematical framework where waveforms do reveal hidden biochemical mechanisms of circadian timekeeping. We find that the cost of synthesizing proteins with particular waveforms can be substantially reduced by rhythmic protein half-lives over time, as supported by previous plant and mammalian data, as well as our own seedling experiment. We also find that previously enigmatic, cyclic expression of positive arm components within the mammalian and insect clocks allows both a broad range of peak time differences between protein waveforms and the symmetries of the waveforms about the peak times. Such various peak-time differences may facilitate tissue-specific or developmental stage-specific multicellular processes. Our waveform-guided approach can be extended to various biological oscillators, including cell-cycle and synthetic genetic oscillators.

Author Correction: The transcriptional repressor complex FRS7-FRS12 regulates flowering time and growth in Arabidopsis.

This corrects the article DOI: 10.1038/ncomms15235.

The transcriptional repressor complex FRS7-FRS12 regulates flowering time and growth in Arabidopsis.

Most living organisms developed systems to efficiently time environmental changes. The plant-clock acts in coordination with external signals to generate output responses determining seasonal growth and flowering time. Here, we show that two Arabidopsis thaliana transcription factors, FAR1 RELATED SEQUENCE 7 (FRS7) and FRS12, act as negative regulators of these processes. These proteins accumulate particularly in short-day conditions and interact to form a complex. Loss-of-function of FRS7 and FRS12 results in early flowering plants with overly elongated hypocotyls mainly in short days. We demonstrate by molecular analysis that FRS7 and FRS12 affect these developmental processes in part by binding to the promoters and repressing the expression of GIGANTEA and PHYTOCHROME INTERACTING FACTOR 4 as well as several of their downstream signalling targets. Our data reveal a molecular machinery that controls the photoperiodic regulation of flowering and growth and offer insight into how plants adapt to seasonal changes.

Kinetics of the LOV domain of ZEITLUPE determine its circadian function in Arabidopsis.

A LOV (Light, Oxygen, or Voltage) domain containing blue-light photoreceptor ZEITLUPE (ZTL) directs circadian timing by degrading clock proteins in plants. Functions hinge upon allosteric differences coupled to the ZTL photocycle; however, structural and kinetic information was unavailable. Herein, we tune the ZTL photocycle over two orders of magnitude. These variants reveal that ZTL complexes with targets independent of light, but dictates enhanced protein degradation in the dark. In vivo experiments definitively show photocycle kinetics dictate the rate of clock component degradation, thereby impacting circadian period. Structural studies demonstrate that photocycle dependent activation of ZTL depends on an unusual dark-state conformation of ZTL. Crystal structures of ZTL LOV domain confirm delineation of structural and kinetic mechanisms and identify an evolutionarily selected allosteric hinge differentiating modes of PAS/LOV signal transduction. The combined biochemical, genetic and structural studies provide new mechanisms indicating how PAS/LOV proteins integrate environmental variables in complex networks.

GIGANTEA is a co-chaperone which facilitates maturation of ZEITLUPE in the Arabidopsis circadian clock.

Circadian clock systems help establish the correct daily phasing of the behavioral, developmental, and molecular events needed for the proper coordination of physiology and metabolism. The circadian oscillator comprises transcription-translation feedback loops but also requires post-translational processes that regulate clock protein homeostasis. GIGANTEA is a unique plant protein involved in the maintenance and control of numerous facets of plant physiology and development. Through an unknown mechanism GIGANTEA stabilizes the F-box protein ZEITLUPE, a key regulator of the circadian clock. Here, we show that GIGANTEA has general protein chaperone activity and can act to specifically facilitate ZEITLUPE maturation into an active form in vitro and in planta. GIGANTEA forms a ternary complex with HSP90 and ZEITLUPE and its co-chaperone action synergistically enhances HSP90/HSP70 maturation of ZEITLUPE in vitro. These results identify a molecular mechanism for GIGANTEA activity that can explain its wide-ranging role in plant biology.The plant-specific GIGANTEA protein regulates the circadian clock by stabilizing the F-box protein ZEITLUPE via an unknown mechanism. Here Cha et al. show that GIGANTEA has intrinsic chaperone activity and can facilitate ZEITLUPE maturation by acting synergistically with HSP90.

Circadian Profiling of the Arabidopsis Proteome Using 2D-DIGE.

Clock-generated biological rhythms provide an adaptive advantage to an organism, resulting in increased fitness and survival. To better elucidate the plant response to the circadian system, we surveyed protein oscillations in Arabidopsis seedlings under constant light. Using large-scale two-dimensional difference in gel electrophoresis (2D-DIGE) the abundance of more than 1000 proteins spots was reproducibly resolved quantified and profiled across a circadian time series. A comparison between phenol-extracted samples and RuBisCO-depleted extracts identified 71 and 40 rhythmically-expressed proteins, respectively, and between 30 and 40% of these derive from non-rhythmic transcripts. These included proteins influencing transcriptional regulation, translation, metabolism, photosynthesis, protein chaperones, and stress-mediated responses. The phasing of maximum expression for the cyclic proteins was similar for both datasets, with a nearly even distribution of peak phases across the time series. STRING clustering analysis identified two interaction networks with a notable number of oscillating proteins: plastid-based and cytosolic chaperones and 10 proteins involved in photosynthesis. The oscillation of the ABA receptor, PYR1/RCAR11, with peak expression near dusk adds to a growing body of evidence that intimately ties ABA signaling to the circadian system. Taken together, this study provides new insights into the importance of post-transcriptional circadian control of plant physiology and metabolism.

Kernel Architecture of the Genetic Circuitry of the Arabidopsis Circadian System.

A wide range of organisms features molecular machines, circadian clocks, which generate endogenous oscillations with ~24 h periodicity and thereby synchronize biological processes to diurnal environmental fluctuations. Recently, it has become clear that plants harbor more complex gene regulatory circuits within the core circadian clocks than other organisms, inspiring a fundamental question: are all these regulatory interactions between clock genes equally crucial for the establishment and maintenance of circadian rhythms? Our mechanistic simulation for Arabidopsis thaliana demonstrates that at least half of the total regulatory interactions must be present to express the circadian molecular profiles observed in wild-type plants. A set of those essential interactions is called herein a kernel of the circadian system. The kernel structure unbiasedly reveals four interlocked negative feedback loops contributing to circadian rhythms, and three feedback loops among them drive the autonomous oscillation itself. Strikingly, the kernel structure, as well as the whole clock circuitry, is overwhelmingly composed of inhibitory, rather than activating, interactions between genes. We found that this tendency underlies plant circadian molecular profiles which often exhibit sharply-shaped, cuspidate waveforms. Through the generation of these cuspidate profiles, inhibitory interactions may facilitate the global coordination of temporally-distant clock events that are markedly peaked at very specific times of day. Our systematic approach resulting in experimentally-testable predictions provides insights into a design principle of biological clockwork, with implications for synthetic biology.