In addition to acting as photoprotective compounds, carotenoids also serve as precursors in the biosynthesis of several phytohormones and proposed regulatory signals. Here, we report a signaling process derived from carotenoids that regulates early chloroplast and leaf development. Biosynthesis of the signal depends on ζ-carotene desaturase activity encoded by the ζ-CAROTENE DESATURASE (ZDS)/CHLOROPLAST BIOGENESIS5 (CLB5) geneinArabidopsis thaliana. Unlike other carotenoiddeficient plants, zds/clb5 mutant alleles display profound alterations in leaf morphology and cellular differentiation as well as altered expression of many plastid- and nucleus-encoded genes. The leaf developmental phenotypes and gene expression alterations of zds/clb5/spc1/pde181 plants are rescued by inhibitors or mutations of phytoene desaturase, demonstrating that phytofluene and/orζ-carotene are substrates for an unidentified signaling molecule. Our work further demonstrates that this signal is an apocarotenoid whose synthesis requires the activity of the carotenoid cleavage dioxygenase CCD4. © 2014 American Society of Plant Biologists. All rights reserved.
CITATION STYLE
Avendaño-Vázquez, A. O., Cordoba, E., Llamas, E., San Román, C., Nisar, N., De la Torre, S., … León, P. (2014). An uncharacterized apocarotenoid-derived signal generated in ζ-carotene desaturase mutants regulates leaf development and the expression of chloroplast and nuclear genes in Arabidopsis. Plant Cell, 26(6), 2524–2537. https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.114.123349
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