Circadian rhythms and post-transcriptional regulation in higher plants

Andrã©S Romanowski,Marcelo J Yanovsky

doi:10.3389/fpls.2015.00437

Abstract

The circadian clock of plants allows them to cope with daily changes in their environment. This is accomplished by the rhythmic regulation of gene expression, in a process that involves many regulatory steps. One of the key steps involved at the RNA level is post-transcriptional regulation, which ensures a correct control on the different amounts and types of mRNA that will ultimately define the current physiological state of the plant cell. Recent advances in the study of the processes of regulation of pre-mRNA processing, RNA turn-over and surveillance, regulation of translation, function of lncRNAs, biogenesis and function of small RNAs, and the development of bioinformatics tools have helped to vastly expand our understanding of how this regulatory step performs its role. In this work we review the current progress in circadian regulation at the post-transcriptional level research in plants. It is the continuous interaction of all the information flow control post-transcriptional processes that allow a plant to precisely time and predict daily environmental changes.

Highlights

Introduction of Cogs and WheelsWe live in a world that spins around its axis with a period of approximately 24 h, which causes daily environmental changes
In the case of the workhorse plant model organism, Arabidopsis thaliana, the basic layout of the circadian clock operates through the mutual interaction between the MYB transcription factors circadian clock associated 1 (CCA1) and late elongated hypocotyl (LHY), whose levels peak in the morning and repress the expression of the gene encoding PSEUDORESPONSE REGULATOR 1 (PRR1), known as TIMING OF CAB EXPRESSION 1 (TOC1), whose levels peak in the late afternoon and feedback to repress CCA1 and LHY expression (Nagel and Kay, 2012)
Another feedback loop taking place during the morning involves the down-regulation of CCA1 and LHY mRNA levels at midday through the TOC1 homologs known as PRR9 and PRR7 (Farre et al, 2005)

Summary

Introduction

Introduction of Cogs and WheelsWe live in a world that spins around its axis with a period of approximately 24 h, which causes daily environmental changes. (2015) Circadian rhythms and post-transcriptional regulation in higher plants. In this work we review the current progress in circadian regulation at the post-transcriptional level research in plants.

Results

Conclusion