MYCs and PIFs Act Independently in Arabidopsis Growth Regulation

Plants have a variety of strategies to avoid canopy shade and compete with their neighbors for light, collectively called the shade avoidance syndrome (SAS). Plants also have extensive systems to defend themselves against pathogens and herbivores. Defense and shade avoidance are two fundamental components of plant survival and productivity, and there are often tradeoffs between growth and defense. Recently, MYC2, a major positive regulator of defense, was reported to inhibit elongation during shade avoidance. Here, we further investigate the role of MYC2 and the related MYC3 and MYC4 in shade avoidance, and we examine the relationship between MYC2/3/4 and the PIF family of light-regulated transcription factors. We demonstrate that MYC2/3/4 inhibit both elongation and flowering. Furthermore, using both genetic and transcriptomic analysis we find that MYCs and PIFs generally function independently in growth regulation. However, surprisingly, the pif4/5/7 triple mutant restored the petiole shade avoidance response of myc2 (jin1-2) and myc2/3/4. We theorize that increased petiole elongation in myc2/3/4 could be more due to resource tradeoffs or post-translational modifications rather than interactions with PIF4/5/7 affecting gene regulation.

Reducing shade avoidance can improve Arabidopsis canopy performance against competitors

The loss of crop yield due to weeds is an urgent agricultural problem. Although herbicides are an effective way to control weeds, more sustainable solutions for weed management are desirable. It has been proposed that crop plants can communally suppress weeds by shading them out. Shade avoidance responses, such as upward leaf movement (hyponasty) and stem or petiole elongation, enhance light capture of individual plants, increasing their individual fitness. The shading capacity of the entire crop community might, however, be more effective if aspects of shade avoidance are suppressed. Testing this hypothesis in crops is hampered by the lack of well-characterized mutants. We therefore investigated if Arabidopsis competitive performance at the community level against invading competitors is affected by the ability to display shade avoidance. We tested two mutants: pif4pif5 that has mildly reduced petiole elongation and hyponasty and pif7 with normal elongation but absent hyponasty in response to shade. Although pif4pif5 performed similar to wildtype, we found that pif7 showed significantly increased canopy biomass and suppression of invading competitors as compared to its wildtype. Our data thus show that modifying specific shade avoidance aspects has potential for plant community performance. This may help to suppress weeds in crop stands.HighlightHyponastic response in canopies facilitates light penetration and weed growth. Inhibition of this response to neighbors increased canopy biomass, canopy closure and suppression of competitors.

Photosynthesis, Morphology, Yield, and Phytochemical Accumulation in Basil Plants Influenced by Substituting Green Light for Partial Red and/or Blue Light

Green light penetrates deeper into the plant canopy because of its high transmittance and reflectance, and may potentially increase light interception and whole-canopy photosynthesis, whereas red and blue light is absorbed primarily by upper leaves. Moreover, green light induces shade avoidance responses and regulates secondary metabolism in plants. In this study, we investigated the effects of substituting partial red and/or blue light with green light on plant growth and development in basil (Ocimum basilicum) ‘Improved Genovese Compact’ (green) and ‘Red Rubin’ (purple) plants. There were four treatments: one combined red and blue (R&B) light treatment, R76B24 [the proportion of red (R) and blue (B) light was 76% and 24%, respectively]; and three green (G) light treatments—R44B24G32, R74B16G10, and R42B13G45—with green light proportions of 32%, 10%, and 45%, respectively. The experiment was conducted in a growth room and the photosynthetic photon flux density (PPFD) of all treatments was set at 220 μmol·m−2·s−1 with a 16-h photoperiod. Plants were subirrigated as needed using a nutrient solution with an electrical conductivity (EC) of 2.0 dS·m−1 and a pH of 6.0. The net photosynthetic rate (Pn) in lower leaves was unaffected by green light treatments in green basil plants, whereas in purple basil plants it increased by 59% and 45% under treatments R44B24G32 and R74B16G10, respectively, compared with the combined R&B light. In green basil plants, treatments R44B24G32 and R42B13G45 induced stem elongation, but green light treatments showed no effects on petiole elongation, leaf expansion, leaf thickness, or plant yield. In purple basil plants, treatments R44B24G32 and R42B13G45 induced stem elongation and decreased leaf thickness and plant yield, but only the R42B13G45 treatment induced petiole elongation, and green light treatments showed no effects on leaf expansion. Concentrations of anthocyanin, phenolics, and flavonoids, and antioxidant capacity in green basil leaves showed no differences between treatments R76B24 and R44B24G32, but decreased under treatments R74B16G10 and R42B13G45. Concentrations of phenolics and flavonoids, and antioxidant capacity in purple basil leaves showed no differences between treatments R76B24 and R74B16G10, but decreased under treatments R44B24G32 and R42B13G45. Combining plant yield, nutritional values, and the working environment for growers, a white light with low green light proportion (≈10%) is recommended for basil production in a controlled environment.

Morphological Response of Soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) Cultivars to Light Intensity and Red to Far-Red Ratio

In soybean production, the shade avoidance response can affect yield negatively in both mono- and inter-cropping systems due to increased heterogeneity of the crop and lodging. This is mainly regulated by photoreceptors responding to the ratio between red and far-red light (R:FR) and photosynthetic photon flux density (PPFD). In this study, three soybean cultivars were grown under different R:FR and PPFD in a light emitting diode (LED) climate chamber to disentangle the effect of each on morphology and dry matter. Results showed that plant organs were influenced differently and indicated an interaction with the increase in assimilates at high PPFD. Internode elongation was mainly influenced by low PPFD with an additive effect from low R:FR, whereas petiole elongation responded strongly under low R:FR. Hence, petiole elongation can be seen as the main response to the threat of shade (high PPFD and low R:FR) and both petiole and internode elongation as a response to true shade (low PPFD and low R:FR). Interactions between cultivar and light treatment were found for internode length and diameter and leaf mass ratio, which may be unique properties for specific cropping systems.