Strigolactone-regulated hypocotyl elongation is dependent on cryptochrome and phytochrome signaling pathways in Arabidopsis.

Seedling development including hypocotyl elongation is a critical phase in the plant life cycle. Light regulation of hypocotyl elongation is primarily mediated through the blue light photoreceptor cryptochrome and red/far-red light photoreceptor phytochrome signaling pathways, comprising regulators including COP1, HY5, and phytochrome-interacting factors (PIFs). The novel phytohormones, strigolactones, also participate in regulating hypocotyl growth. However, how strigolactone coordinates with light and photoreceptors in the regulation of hypocotyl elongation is largely unclear. Here, we demonstrate that strigolactone inhibition of hypocotyl elongation is dependent on cryptochrome and phytochrome signaling pathways. The photoreceptor mutants cry1 cry2, phyA, and phyB are hyposensitive to strigolactone analog GR24 under the respective monochromatic light conditions, while cop1 and pif1 pif3 pif4 pif5 (pifq) quadruple mutants are hypersensitive to GR24 in darkness. Genetic studies indicate that the enhanced responsiveness of cop1 to GR24 is dependent on HY5 and MAX2, while that of pifq is independent of HY5. Further studies demonstrate that GR24 constitutively up-regulates HY5 expression in the dark and light, whereas GR24-promoted HY5 protein accumulation is light- and cryptochrome and phytochrome photoreceptor-dependent. These results suggest that the light dependency of strigolactone regulation of hypocotyl elongation is likely mediated through MAX2-dependent promotion of HY5 expression, light-dependent accumulation of HY5, and PIF-regulated components.