Does light taste salty?

As research advances acquisition of new data reveals novel aspects on already investigated issues. This is the case for SALT TOLERANCE (STO), an Arabidopsis protein that confers tolerance to high salt concentrations when ectopically expressed in yeast cells. For the last years, STO was considered to participate mainly in the response and tolerance of Arabidopsis to high salinity, as it does in yeast. However, recent investigations using gain- and loss-of-function mutants revealed a major role for STO as negative regulator of photomorphogenesis. Interestingly, and contrary to other negative regulators of light dependent inhibition of hypocotyl elongation, STO protein instability is controlled by COP1 activity in etiolated seedlings. Thus, light stabilizes STO protein levels during de-etiolation. Whether STO participates in other signaling cascades different from light signaling, as it has been shown in yeast and proposed in plants or not, is still an open question.