Epigenetics of light signaling during plant development

Abstract

Light controls plant growth and development by directly impacting gene expression, physiology, and metabolism. For 20 years it has been known that light also targets epigenetic mechanisms to control different outputs. This research field is still at a relatively young stage, given its complexity and overall limitation to the plant model Arabidopsis. This chapter highlights major knowledge of the epigenetics of light signaling in Arabidopsis. Different developmental stages are discussed, including germination and early seedling development, control of the circadian clock and flowering, as well as hormone crosstalk and stress responses, and finally environmental memory. While most of the knowledge has been built up based on a laboratory plant model, studies on plants with commercial value are emerging. These studies show that some mechanisms using light signaling and epigenetic remodeling are conserved between different plant species, but other mechanisms show species specificity. The increasing availability of tools to study crops may allow the development of novel solutions for crop improvement by targeting epigenetic factors with light. This is of particular relevance in the future of agriculture, which will undoubtedly include indoor farming and the usage of artificial light. O.