Abstract
Plant growth depends on the supply of carbohydrates produced by photosynthesis. Exogenously applied sucrose promotes the growth of the hypocotyl in Arabidopsis thaliana seedlings grown under short days. Whether this effect of sucrose is stronger under the environmental conditions where the light input for photosynthesis is limiting remains unknown. We characterised the effects of exogenous sucrose on hypocotyl growth rates under light compared to simulated shade, during different portions of the daily cycle. The strongest effects of exogenous sucrose occurred under shade and during the night; i.e., the conditions where there is reduced or no photosynthesis. Conversely, a faster hypocotyl growth rate, predicted to enhance the demand of carbohydrates, did not associate to a stronger sucrose effect. The early flowering 3 (elf3) mutation strongly enhanced the impact of sucrose on hypocotyl growth during the night of a white-light day. This effect occurred under short, but not under long days. The addition of sucrose enhanced the fluorescence intensity of ELF3 nuclear speckles. The elf3 mutant showed increased abundance of PHYTOCHROME INTERACTING FACTOR4 (PIF4), which is a transcription factor required for a full response to sucrose. Sucrose increased PIF4 protein abundance by post-transcriptional mechanisms. Under shade, elf3 showed enhanced daytime and reduced nighttime effects of sucrose. We conclude that ELF3 modifies the responsivity to sucrose according to the time of the daily cycle and the prevailing light or shade conditions.
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This work was supported by grants from the University of Buenos Aires (Grant no. 20020170100505BA) and Agencia Nacional de Promoción Cientıfica y Tecnologica (Grant no. PICT-2018-1695).
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This work is part of the thesis of Matías E. Pereyra, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Doctor degree (Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, Argentina). On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.
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This publication is dedicated to Prof. Silvia E. Braslavsky, a pioneer in photobiology and photobiophysics, on the occasion of her 80th birthday.
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Pereyra, M.E., Murcia, M.G., Borniego, M.B. et al. EARLY FLOWERING 3 represses the nighttime growth response to sucrose in Arabidopsis. Photochem Photobiol Sci 21, 1869–1880 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43630-022-00264-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s43630-022-00264-6