Effects of light fluence and wavelength on expression of the gene encoding cucumber hydroxypyruvate reductase.

We have investigated the regulation of cucumber (Cucumis sativus) hydroxypyruvate reductase mRNA abundance in response to white-, red-, and far-red-light treatments. Following irradiation of dark-adapted cucumber seedlings with 15 min to 4 h of either white or red light and return to darkness, the mRNA level for the gene encoding hydroxypyruvate reductase (Hpr) in cotyledons peaks in the darkness 16 to 20 h later. The response of the Hpr mRNA level to total fluence of white light depends more directly on irradiation time than on fluence rate. In addition to this time-dependent component, a phytochrome-dependent component is involved in Hpr regulation in dark-adapted green cotyledons as shown by red-light induction and partial far-red-light reversibility. Parallel measurements of mRNA levels for the ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase small subunit and for the chlorophyll a/b-binding protein show that Hpr is the most responsive to short (about 60 min) white- and red-light treatments and that each mRNA has a characteristic pattern of accumulation in dark-adapted cotyledons in response to light.