SRR1 is essential to repress flowering in non-inductive conditions in Arabidopsis thaliana

Abstract

Timing of flowering is determined by environmental and developmental signals, leading to promotion or repression of key floral integrators. SENSITIVITY TO RED LIGHT REDUCED (SRR1) is a pioneer protein previously shown to be involved in regulation of the circadian clock and phytochrome B signalling in Arabidopsis thaliana. This report has examined the role of SRR1 in flowering time control. Loss-of-function srr1-1 plants flowered very early compared with the wild type under short-day conditions and had a weak flowering response to increasing daylength. Furthermore, FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT) transcript levels were elevated already in short days in srr1-1 compared with the wild type. This correlated with elevated end of day levels of CONSTANS (CO), whereas levels of CYCLING DOF FACTOR 1 (CDF1), a repressor of CO transcription, were reduced. srr1-1 gi-2 and srr1-1 co-9 double mutants showed that SRR1 can also repress flowering independently of the photoperiodic pathway. srr1-1 flowered consistently early between 16 °C and 27 °C, showing that SRR1 prevents premature flowering over a wide temperature range. SRR1 also promotes expression of the repressors TEMPRANILLO 1 (TEM1) and TEM2. Consequently their targets in the gibberellin biosynthesis pathway were elevated in srr1-1. SRR1 is thus an important focal point of both photoperiodic and photoperiod-independent regulation of flowering. By stimulating expression of the FT-binding repressors CDF1, TEM1 and TEM2, and FLC, flowering is inhibited in non-inductive conditions.