Transcriptional integration of paternal and maternal factors in the <i>Arabidopsis</i> zygote

Abstract

In many plants, the asymmetric division of the zygote sets up the apical-basal axis of the embryo. Unlike animals, plant zygotes are transcriptionally active, implying that plants have evolved specific mechanisms to control transcriptional activation of patterning genes in the zygote. In <i>Arabidopsis</i>, two pathways have been found to regulate zygote asymmetry: YODA (YDA) mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling, which is potentiated by sperm-delivered mRNA of the SHORT SUSPENSOR (SSP) membrane protein, and up-regulation of the patterning gene <i>WOX8</i> by the WRKY2 transcription factor. How SSP/YDA signaling is transduced into the nucleus and how these pathways are integrated have remained elusive. Here we show that paternal SSP/YDA signaling directly phosphorylates WRKY2, which in turn leads to the up-regulation of <i>WOX8</i> transcription in the zygote. We further discovered the transcription factors HOMEODOMAIN GLABROUS11/12 (HDG11/12) as maternal regulators of zygote asymmetry that also directly regulate <i>WOX8</i> transcription. Our results reveal a framework of how maternal and paternal factors are integrated in the zygote to regulate embryo patterning.