Regulation of Arabidopsis photoreceptor CRY2 by two distinct E3 ubiquitin ligases

Abstract Cryptochromes (CRYs) are photoreceptors or components of the molecular clock in various evolutionary lineages, and they are commonly regulated by polyubiquitination and proteolysis. Multiple E3 ubiquitin ligases regulate CRYs in animal models, and previous genetics study also suggest existence of multiple E3 ubiquitin ligases for plant CRYs. However, only one E3 ligase, Cul4COP1-SPAs, has been reported for plant CRYs so far. Here we show that Cul3LRBs is the second E3 ligase of CRY2 in Arabidopsis. We demonstrated the blue light-specific and CRY-dependent activity of LRBs (Light-Response Bric-a-Brack/Tramtrack/Broad 1, 2 & 3) in blue-light regulation of hypocotyl elongation. LRBs physically interact with photoexcited and phosphorylated CRY2 to facilitate polyubiquitination and degradation of CRY2 in response to blue light. We propose that Cul4COP1-SPAs and Cul3LRBs E3 ligases interact with CRY2 via different structure elements to regulate the abundance of CRY2 photoreceptor under different light conditions, facilitating optimal photoresponses of plants grown in nature.