Chloroplast retrograde signal regulates flowering.
Feng PPhotosynthesis Research Center, Key Laboratory of Photobiology, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China; College of Life Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China;
Guo HPhotosynthesis Research Center, Key Laboratory of Photobiology, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China; College of Life Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China;
Chi WPhotosynthesis Research Center, Key Laboratory of Photobiology, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China;
Chai XPhotosynthesis Research Center, Key Laboratory of Photobiology, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China; College of Life Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China;
Sun XPhotosynthesis Research Center, Key Laboratory of Photobiology, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China;
Xu XPhotosynthesis Research Center, Key Laboratory of Photobiology, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China;
Ma JPhotosynthesis Research Center, Key Laboratory of Photobiology, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China;
Rochaix JDDepartment of Molecular Biology, University of Geneva, 1211 Geneva, Switzerland; Department of Plant Biology, University of Geneva, 1211 Geneva, Switzerland;
Leister DPlant Molecular Biology (Botany), Department of Biology I, Ludwig Maximilian University Munich, 82152 Martinsried, Germany;
Wang HNational Key Facility for Crop Gene Resources and Genetic Improvement, Institute of Crop Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China.
Lu CPhotosynthesis Research Center, Key Laboratory of Photobiology, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China;
Zhang LPhotosynthesis Research Center, Key Laboratory of Photobiology, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China; zhanglixin@ibcas.ac.cn.
English
Light is a major environmental factor regulating flowering time, thus ensuring reproductive success of higher plants. In contrast to our detailed understanding of light quality and photoperiod mechanisms involved, the molecular basis underlying high light-promoted flowering remains elusive. Here we show that, in Arabidopsis, a chloroplast-derived signal is critical for high light-regulated flowering mediated by the FLOWERING LOCUS C (FLC). We also demonstrate that PTM, a PHD transcription factor involved in chloroplast retrograde signaling, perceives such a signal and mediates transcriptional repression of FLC through recruitment of FVE, a component of the histone deacetylase complex. Thus, our data suggest that chloroplasts function as essential sensors of high light to regulate flowering and adaptive responses by triggering nuclear transcriptional changes at the chromatin level.