Plant's transition from vegetative to reproductive phase is balanced by intricate cascade of genes regulated by both endogenous and environmental inputs. Stress causes suppression of vegetative growth and acceleration of flowering as an emergency response for preservation of the species. Recently, we determined that expression levels of a transcription factor with 2 B-Box motifs, BBX19, is notably reduced in response to accumulation of high levels of Methylerythritol cyclodiphosphate (MEcPP), a plastidial produced isoprenoids intermediate that also functions as a stress-specific retrograde signaling metabolite. We now have identified BBX19 as a repressor of Flower locus T (FT) expression and the corresponding downstream genes, SUPPRESSOR OF OVEREXPRESSION OF CONSTANS 1 (SOC1), Leafy (LFY) and Fruitful (FUL), through competition with CONSTANS (CO). Collectively our finding identifies BBX19 as a link between the stress-specific retrograde signal MEcPP and regulation of flowering time by depleting the active CO pool required for transcription of FT.
Keywords: BBX19; flowering time; methylerythritol cyclodiphosphate (MEcPP); retrograde signaling; stress.