Time course of competence in phytochrome-controlled appearance of nuclear-encoded plastidic proteins and messenger RNAs.

The phytochrome-controlled expression of genes coding for plastidic proteins was studied in mustard (Sinapis alba L.) seedling cotyledons in continuous red (R) and far-red (FR) light, i.e. under steady-state conditions with regard to phytochrome, and in darkness over a time span of 8 d after sowing (25° C). (i) The time courses of the levels of the Calvin-cycle enzymes ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase (RuBPCase) and NADP-dependent glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (NADP-GPD) were found to be optimum curves. The time at which the optimum (peak) occurred was - independent of fluence rate - the same in R (strong phytochrome action, chlorophyll accumulation and photosynthesis) and FR (strong phytochrome action but no significant chlorophyll accumulation and no photosynthesis). The starting point (first detectable inccrease of enzyme level) was also endogenously fixed and not affected by light. However, the two enzymes differed insofar as the peak was at 4 d after sowing for RuBPCase activity and 4.5 d for GPD. Western blots of the small (SSU) and large (LSU) subunits of RuBPCase showed that enzyme activity and protein levels were correlated. It was concluded that a dramatic change of competence towards phytochrome had occurred and that this change was endogenous. This conclusion was confirmed by short-term induction experiments. In constant darkness (D) the low enzyme levels were saturation rather than optimum curves, presumably because enzyme turnover was lacking. (ii) The time course of accumulation of membrane components showed that chlorophyll and LHCP (light-harvesting chlorophyll a/b-binding protein of photosystem II) levels were closely correlated in R until 6 d after sowing. Thereafter the levels remained constant. The accumulation of membrane components was not related to the accumulation of Calvin-cycle enzymes. (iii) Time courses of the levels of translatable mRNAs, particularly SSU mRNA and LHCP mRNA were determined. In the case of SSU the maximum mRNA-level was found in R, FR and D around 3 d. This was compatible with the in-situ protein accumulation rate. Induction experiments with FR showed that accumulation of SSU mRNA followed the same rise and fall (peak at 3 d) as would be expected from the time course of mRNA levels and from enzyme-induction experiments. In the case of LHCP mRNA the peak was between 3 and 4 d in R, and was not well correlated with in-situ protein accumulation. Translatable LHCP mRNA was also formed in FR and in D-with a peak between 3 and 4 d-although LHCP protein was not detectable under these circumstances (because of the lack of chlorophyll). The data indicate that competence of gene expression towards phytochrome is determined endogenously. However, in the case of LHCP its appearance is not only limited by mRNA but also depends on the availability of chlorophyll.