2024/03/27 by Yu‐Wen Huang, Chih‐Yen Tseng, Yi‐Tsung Tu +6 · 1 voice
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · #Plant Molecular Biology Research #Plant Reproductive Biology #Photosynthetic Processes and Mechanisms
paper · pdf · doi:10.1101/2024.03.26.586198
openalex publication_date 2024/03/27 · openalex created_date 2024/03/28 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31
Abstract Plants adjust their flowering time by integrating environmental cues through complex regulatory networks. RNA splicing plays a crucial role in modulating gene expression in response to flowering signals. The MOS4-associated complex (MAC), consisting of the evolutionarily conserved E3 ubiquitin ligases MAC3A and MAC3B, is pivotal in splicing regulation. However, their involvement in floral transition remained unclear. This study observed that mac3a/mac3b mutants flowered significantly earlier under short-day (SD) conditions, a phenotype absent under long-day (LD) conditions. This early flowering correlated with upregulation of FLOWERING LOCUS T ( FT ) and SUPPRESSOR OF OVEREXPRESSION OF CO 1 ( SOC1 ) compared to wild-type plants. Transcriptomic analysis revealed alterations in transcript levels and splicing profiles of key floral regulators across different flowering pathways. Further investigation identified the thermosensory flowering regulator FLOWERING LOCUS M ( FLM ) as being influenced by MAC3A and MAC3B . Subsequently, we found that MAC3A and MAC3B exhibited higher expression and were associated with FLM transcripts to modulate their splicing in SD. This study elucidates how the MAC complex, through RNA splicing regulation, integrates environmental signals to modulate flowering, unveiling a new layer of complexity in flowering pathways crosstalk under non-inductive photoperiods.