Two in one: Splice isoforms of a HY5-homolog in rice regulate plant height in light and darkness

Abstract

Plants possess intricate mechanisms to adjust their growth and development in response to the changes in the quality and quantity of environmental light. Specialized photoreceptors perceive discrete wavelengths of light and transduce the signals to the nucleus, causing widespread changes in the gene expression mediated by an array of transcription factors (Yadav et al. 2020). Seedlings growing in light form short hypocotyls and open and expanded cotyledons (photomorphogenesis), whereas in darkness they form elongated hypocotyls with an apical hook and closed cotyledons