Molecular mechanisms of phytochrome signal transduction in higher plants

Phytochromes in higher plants play a great role in development, responses to environmental stresses and signal transduction, which are the fundamental principles for higher plants to be adapted to changing environment. Deep and systematic understanding of the phytochrome in higher plants is of crucial importance to molecular biology, purposeful improvement of environment in practice, especially molecular mechanism by which higher plants perceive UV-B stress. The last more than 10 years have seen rapid progress in this field with the aid of a combination of molecular, genetic and cell biological approaches. No doubt, what is the most important, is the application of Arabidopsis experimental system and the generation of various mutants regarding phytochromes (phy A–E). Increasing evidence demonstrates that phytochrome signaling transduction constitutes a highly ordered multidimensional network of events. Some phytochromes and signaling intermediates show light-dependent nuclear-cytoplasmic partitioning, which implies that early signaling events take place in the nucleus and that subcellular localization patterns most probably represent an important signaling control point. The main subcellular localization includes nucleus, cytosol and chloroplasts, respectively. Additionally, proteasome-mediated degradation of signaling intermediates most possibly function in concert with subcellular partitioning events as an integrated checkpoint. What higher plants do in this way is to execute accurate responses to the changes in the light environment on the basis of interconnected subcellular organelles. By integrating the available data, at the molecular level and from the angle of eco-environment, we should be able to construct a solid foundation for further dissection of phytochrome signaling transduction in higher plants.