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A dual-specificity phosphatase, MAP kinase phosphatase 1, positively regulates blue light-mediated seedling development in Arabidopsis

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Abstract

Main conclusion

A dual-specificity phosphatase MKP1 negatively regulates the activity of MPK6 by dephosphorylating it and acts as a positive regulator of blue light (BL)-mediated photomorphogenic development in Arabidopsis.

Abstract

Reversible phosphorylation of proteins is one of the major post-translational modifications in nearly all signaling pathways in plants. MAP kinase phosphatases are very crucial in the regulation of MAPKs as they dephosphorylate both threonine (Thr) and tyrosine (Tyr) residues within the T-X-Y motif of active MAPKs. Therefore, to gain insight of involvement of MAP kinase phosphatases in the regulation of light signaling, we searched for the potential phosphatase which may regulate the function of MPK6, a negative regulator of blue light (BL)-mediated photomorphogenic development. We report here the identification of a dual-specificity phosphatase, MAP kinase phosphatase 1 (MKP1) as a positive regulator of BL-mediated seedling development. Overexpression of MKP1 enhances the BL-induced inhibition of hypocotyl elongation and displays more opened cotyledons. We also show that MKP1OE accumulates more pigments and positively affects the expression of downstream light-related genes in response to BL. In vitro and in vivo evidences also demonstrate that MKP1 not only interacts with but also dephosphorylates MPK6 in BL. In addition, MKP1 regulates stability as well as activity of MPK6 upon BL. Taken together our study highlights the important role of phosphatases in the regulation of a signaling pathway and identifies the role of MKP1 in the negative regulation of MPK6 activity leading to a change in BL-induced photomorphogenic responses.

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Abbreviations

BL:

Blue light

DSP:

Dual-specificity phosphatase

FR:

Far-red light

MAP kinase:

Mitogen-activated protein kinase

MBP:

Myelin basic protein

MKP:

MAP kinase phosphatase

RL:

Red light

WL:

White light

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by a research grant from Science and Engineering Research Board, Government of India to AKS. Part of the work is also supported from the core grant of National Institute of Plant Genome Research, New Delhi from Department of Biotechnology, Government of India. DV thanks University Grant Commission and PKB thanks Department of Biotechnology, Government of India for fellowships. The authors thank Prof. Sudip Chattopadhyay for sharing Atmyc2 seeds.

Funding

Science and Engineering Research Board, Government of India; EMR/2015/001733; Grant Recipient: Dr. Alok Krishna Sinha.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Institute of Plant Genome Research, Aruna Asaf Ali Marg, New Delhi, 110067, India

    Deepanjali Verma, Prakash Kumar Bhagat & Alok Krishna Sinha

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  1. Deepanjali Verma
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  2. Prakash Kumar Bhagat
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  3. Alok Krishna Sinha
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Correspondence to Alok Krishna Sinha.

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Verma, D., Bhagat, P.K. & Sinha, A.K. A dual-specificity phosphatase, MAP kinase phosphatase 1, positively regulates blue light-mediated seedling development in Arabidopsis. Planta 253, 131 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-021-03649-6

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