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An unidentified ultraviolet-B-specific photoreceptor mediates transcriptional activation of the cyclobutane pyrimidine dimer photolyase gene in plants

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Abstract

Cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers (CPDs) constitute a majority of DNA lesions caused by ultraviolet-B (UVB). CPD photolyase, which rapidly repairs CPDs, is essential for plant survival under sunlight containing UVB. Our earlier results that the transcription of the cucumber CPD photolyase gene (CsPHR) was activated by light have prompted us to propose that this light-driven transcriptional activation would allow plants to meet the need of the photolyase activity upon challenges of UVB from sunlight. However, molecular mechanisms underlying the light-dependent transcriptional activation of CsPHR were unknown. In order to understand spectroscopic aspects of the plant response, we investigated the wavelength-dependence (action spectra) of the light-dependent transcriptional activation of CsPHR. In both cucumber seedlings and transgenic Arabidopsis seedlings expressing reporter genes under the control of the CsPHR promoter, the action spectra exhibited the most predominant peak in the long-wavelength UVB waveband (around 310 nm). In addition, a 95-bp cis-acting region in the CsPHR promoter was identified to be essential for the UVB-driven transcriptional activation of CsPHR. Thus, we concluded that the photoperception of long-wavelength UVB by UVB photoreceptor(s) led to the induction of the CsPHR transcription via a conserved cis-acting element.

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Abbreviations

CPD:

Cyclobutane pyrimidine dimer

CsPHR:

Cucumber CPD photolyase

GUS:

β-Glucronidase

LUC:

Luciferase

PcCHS:

Parsley chalcone synthase

RT-PCR:

Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction

UVA:

Ultraviolet-A

UVB:

Ultraviolet-B

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the members of the Large Spectrograph Laboratory at National Institute for Basic Biology (Mr. S. Higashi, Ms. C. Ichikawa and Mr. T. Nakamura), our colleagues at National Institute for Environmental Studies (Mr. and Mrs. Matsumoto, Ms. M. Nakajima, Ms. H. Watanabe, Ms. Y. Oshima, Mr. H. Takahashi, and Mr. T. Teramoto), Dr. Y. Takahashi at the University of Tokyo, and Dr. B. Liu at University of California, Davis, for their generous technical assistance and discussions.

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  1. Motohide Ioki

    Present address: Department of Plant Biology, University of California, One Shields Ave, Davis, CA, 95616, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo, Hongo 7-3-1, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-0033, Japan

    Motohide Ioki, Shinya Takahashi, Kohei Fujikura, Jutarou Fukazawa, Seiichiro Hasezawa & Noriaki Kondo

  2. Environmental Biology Division, National Institute for Environmental Studies, Onogawa 16-2, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8506, Japan

    Motohide Ioki, Nobuyoshi Nakajima, Masanori Tamaoki, Hikaru Saji, Akihiro Kubo, Mitsuko Aono, Machi Kanna, Daisuke Ogawa & Seiji Yoshida

  3. Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Kashiwanoha 5-1-5, Kashiwa, Chiba, 277-8562, Japan

    Motohide Ioki, Yoshihisa Oda & Seiichiro Hasezawa

  4. National Institute for Basic Biology, Nishigonaka 38, Myodaiji, Okazaki, Aichi, 444-8585, Japan

    Masakatsu Watanabe

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  1. Motohide Ioki
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Correspondence to Nobuyoshi Nakajima.

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Ioki, M., Takahashi, S., Nakajima, N. et al. An unidentified ultraviolet-B-specific photoreceptor mediates transcriptional activation of the cyclobutane pyrimidine dimer photolyase gene in plants. Planta 229, 25–36 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-008-0803-4

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