The blue light receptor CRY1 interacts with FIP37 to promote N6-methyladenosine RNA modification and photomorphogenesis in Arabidopsis

Light is a particularly important environmental cue that regulates a variety of diverse plant developmental processes, such as photomorphogenesis. Blue light promotes photomorphogenesis mainly through the activation of the photoreceptor cryptochrome 1 (CRY1). However, the mechanism underlying the CRY1-mediated regulation of growth is not fully understood.Here, we found that blue light induced N-6-methyladenosine (m(6)A) RNA modification during photomorphogenesis partially via CRY1. Cryptochrome 1 mediates blue light-induced expression of FKBP12-interacting protein 37 (FIP37), which is a component of m(6)A writer. Moreover, we showed that CRY1 physically interacted with FIP37 in vitro and in vivo, and mediated blue light activation of FIP37 binding to RNA. Furthermore, CRY1 and FIP37 modulated m(6)A on photomorphogenesis-related genes PIF3, PIF4, and PIF5, thereby accelerating the decay of their transcripts.Genetically, FIP37 repressed hypocotyl elongation under blue light, and fip37 mutation could partially rescue the short-hypocotyl phenotype of CRY1-overexpressing plants.Together, our results provide a new insight into CRY1 signal in modulating m(6)A methylation and stability of PIFs, and establish an essential molecular link between m(6)A modification and determination of photomorphogenesis in plants.

Automated summary

The study reveals that blue light induces m(6)A RNA modification partially via CRY1, and CRY1 mediates the expression of FIP37, which is associated with m(6)A modification. CRY1 and FIP37 regulate m(6)A modification on photomorphogenesis-related genes and determine their transcript stability.