It was found that PIF4 can regulate the stability of the DCL1 protein under dark/red light conversion conditions.

Recently, the Chinese Academy of Sciences Molecular Plant Science Center for Excellence in Innovation/ Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology Fang Yuda research group, with the coordinated regulation of the Arabidopsis microRNA biogenesis and red light signal through Dicer-like 1 and phytochrome-interacting factor 4, published online in PLoS Genetics.
the study found that transcription factor PIF4 regulates the stability of miRNA processing factor DCL1 during dark/red light conversion, while PIF4 can regulate the transcription of some miRNA genes, regulate the accumulation of mature miRNA at both levels of transcription and processing, and then regulate the build-up of red light-mediated plant light patterns.
in eukaryotic organisms, small non-coding RNA of 20-30 nucleotide lengths is one of the key internal signals that regulate many biological processes, and red light, as one of the important environmental signals, regulates all aspects of plant growth and development.
little is known about whether red light signals and miRNA pathways coordinate with each other to finely regulate plant growth and development and their molecular mechanisms.
Fang Yuda Research Group has long studied the cellular biology of plant miRNA synthesis pathways, and has made a series of studies on the basis of the discovery of the nucleosofer body of plant cells, and has made a series of studies on further analysis of Dicing body function.
the study first identified a new component of PIF4 in dicing body and found a direct interaction between DCL1/HYL1 and transcription factor PIF4, a member of the amoeba miRNA processing complex.
PIF4 is an important transcription factor for known optical signal pathways, and PIF4 can bind bioactive red light receptor phyB to regulate the expression of downstream genes.
studies have shown that PIF4 can be combined with some miRNA gene promoters as transcription factors to initiate the transcription of these miRNA genes.
high-throughput sequencing experiments showed that the accumulation of miRNA changed significantly in red light conditions and in mutants with pIF4 of pifying mustard compared to wild-type amoeba.
further found that PIF4 regulates the stability of the DCL1 protein under dark/red light conversion conditions.
the study found that miRNA processing factors DCL1 and HYL1, as well as some mature miRNAs, could be built as positive regulatory factors or negative-modulation factors affecting red light-mediated plant light patterns, confirming that they are new members in the process of red light signaling plants.
this study proves that PIF4 precisely regulates the accumulation of miRNA from transcription level and post-transcription processing level to regulate the photomorphology of plants, linking the endogenous miRNA pathway with the external red light signaling pathway. The first author of the
thesis is associate researcher Sun Zhenfei.
research work has been supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the Chinese Academy of Sciences' strategic leading science and technology special project (B).
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