PEAPOD limits developmental plasticity in Arabidopsis

Abstract Higher plants utilise developmental plasticity to adapt to changes in the environment, especially to variations in light. Much of this change in growth and development involves the light-mediated regulation of multiple hormone pathways. However, despite considerable progress towards understanding the molecular processes controlling light signalling and hormone activity, regulatory mechanisms preventing exaggerated plant developmental responses are not well understood. Here I report that the PPD regulatory complex has a crucial role in limiting developmental plasticity in Arabidopsis . Reductions in PPD or KIX8/9 gene expression resulted in; tolerance to ABA inhibition of seed germination, hypocotyl elongation, increases in stomata on hypocotyls, cambial cell proliferation and seed weight, and delayed flowering. Transcript profiling and analyses of hormone responses and genetic interactions established PPD modulates developmental plasticity, mainly by a combination of transcriptional activation and repression of genes controlling CRY/PHY light signalling and ABA, auxin, brassinosteroid, cytokinin and gibberellin homeostasis.