Molecular basis of plant tissue-specific responses of circadian clocks to environmental stimuli

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25650097
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Plant molecular biology/Plant physiology
• Research Institution: Kyoto University
• Principal Investigator: Endo Motomu 京都大学, 生命科学研究科, 准教授 (80551499)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: シロイヌナズナ / 植物 / 概日時計 / 温度 / 組織特異性

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The circadian clock increases organisms’ fitness by regulating physiological responses. In Arabidopsis, tissue-specific circadian clock functions have emerged, and the importance of the vasculature clock for photoperiodic flowering has been demonstrated. We then studied the involvement of tissue-specific circadian clock regulation of flowering and cell elongation under different photoperiods and temperatures. We found that the circadian clock in vascular phloem companion cells is essential for photoperiodic flowering regulation; by contrast, the epidermis has a crucial impact on ambient temperature-dependent cell elongation. Thus, there are clear assignments of roles among circadian clocks in each tissue. Our results reveal that, unlike the more centralized circadian clock in mammals, the plant circadian clock is decentralized, where each tissue specifically processes individual environmental cues and regulates individual physiological responses.

Free Research Field

植物生理学　時間生物学