Identification of photoreceptors and signalling network(s) by which ultraviolet light modulates the circadian system in Arabidopsis thaliana

• Antragsteller: Professor Ferenc Nagy, Ph.D.
• Fachliche Zuordnung: Biochemie und Biophysik der Pflanzen
• Förderung: Förderung von 2007 bis 2012
• Projektkennung: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Projektnummer 46486340

Plants are sessile organisms and respond to changes in their environment by modulating their metabolism, growth and development. For plants light is arguably the most important environmental factor, thus they evolved a set of specialized photoreceptors to monitor changes in the quality and quantity of the light environment. Photomorphogenesis is a complex process, in which photoreceptors and the endogenous biological time keeper, the circadian clock act in harmony. Photoreceptors entrain the circadian clock to match endogenous time with real time and induce light-dependent signalling, which in turn is regulated by the oscillator in a rhythmic fashion. Ultraviolet light (UV) is an increasing component of the incipient sunlight but, in contrast to the battery of known photoreceptors scanning the visible part of the spectrum, no specialized UV-absorbing photoreceptor(s) has yet been identified. It has been established recently that for plants, in contrast to other eukaryotic organisms, ultraviolet light is not only an important stress factor but - similarly to blue and red/far-red light - it also is a potent morphogenic signal. In this proposal we put forward a comprehensive work plan to identify and characterize those signalling cascades and components by which UV modulates the activity of the circadian clock and effects plant growth and development. Our ultimate goal is to identify the photoreceptor(s) by which UV contributes to the entrainment of the circadian clock.

• DFG-Verfahren: Sachbeihilfen