Antagonistic Regulation of Leaf Flattening by Phytochrome B and Phototropin in Arabidopsis thaliana

Light is one of the most important environmental factors regulating the growth and development of leaves. As the primary photosynthetic organs, leaves have a laminar structure in many dicotyledonous plants. The regulation of leaf flatness is a key mechanism for the efficient absorption of light under low light conditions. In the present study, we demonstrated that phytochrome B (phyB) promoted the development of curled leaves. Wild-type leaves gently curled downwards under white light, whereas the phyB-deficient mutant (phyB) constitutively exhibited flatter leaves. In the wild type, leaf flattening was promoted by end-of-day far-red light (EODFR) treatment, which rapidly eliminates the active Pfr phytochrome. Interestingly, the curled-leaf phenotype in a phototropin-deficient mutant was almost completely suppressed by the phyB mutation as well as by EODFR. Thus, phototropin promotes leaf flattening by suppressing the leaf-curling activity of phyB. We examined the downstream components of phyB and phototropin to assess their antagonistic regulation of leaf flatness further. Consequently, we found that a phototropin signaling transducer, NON-PHOTOTROPIC HYPOCOTYL 3 (NPH3), was required to promote leaf flattening in phyB. The present study provides new insights into a mechanism in which leaf flatness is regulated in response to different light environmental cues.