The phytohormone cytokinin plays a key role in regulating plant growth and development, and is involved in numerous physiological responses to environmental changes. The type-B response regulators, which regulate the transcription of cytokinin response genes, are a part of the cytokinin signaling system. Arabidopsis thaliana encodes 11 type-B response regulators (type-B ARRs), and some of them were shown to bind in vitro to the core cytokinin response motif (CRM) 5'-(A/G)GAT(T/C)-3' or, in the case of ARR1, to an extended motif (ECRM), 5'-AAGAT(T/C)TT-3'. Here we obtained in planta proof for the functionality of the latter motif. Promoter deletion analysis of the primary cytokinin response gene ARR6 showed that a combination of two extended motifs within the promoter is required to mediate the full transcriptional activation by ARR1 and other type-B ARRs. CRMs were found to be over-represented in the vicinity of ECRMs in the promoters of cytokinin-regulated genes, suggesting their functional relevance. Moreover, an evolutionarily conserved 27 bp long T-rich region between -220 and -193 bp was identified and shown to be required for the full activation by type-B ARRs and the response to cytokinin. This novel enhancer is not bound by the DNA-binding domain of ARR1, indicating that additional proteins might be involved in mediating the transcriptional cytokinin response. Furthermore, genome-wide expression profiling identified genes, among them ARR16, whose induction by cytokinin depends on both ARR1 and other specific type-B ARRs. This together with the ECRM/CRM sequence clustering indicates cooperative action of different type-B ARRs for the activation of particular target genes.
Keywords: Arabidopsis thaliana; Cytokinin; Cytokinin response element; Cytokinin response motif; Response regulator; Transcriptional regulation.