Overexpression of N -terminal lacking mutant HFR1 confers light-independence in a subset of photo-responses

Phytochrome controls diverse aspects of plant development in response to the ambient light conditions. HFRl, a basic helix-loop-helix protein, is required for a subset of phytochrome A (phy A)-mediated photo-responses in Arabidopsis. Here, we show that overexpression of HFR1-N105, but not the one of the full-length HFR1, confers exaggerated photo-responses. The transgenic plants overexpressing HFR1- N105 exhibited light-independence in a subset of photo-responses, including germination, de-etiolation, gravitropic hypocotyl growth, and blocking of greening. Overexpression of HFR1-N105 also caused constitutive light-responses in the expression of some light-regulated genes. In addition, the HFR1-N105 overexpressor showed hypersensitive responses under R and FR light, dependently on phyB and phyA, respectively. End-of-day far-red light response and petiole elongation were suppressed in the HFR1-N105 overexpressor plants. Together these results imply that overexpression of HFR1-N105 activated a branch of light signaling, supporting the hypothesis that transcriptional regulation in the nucleus would be the primary mechanism of light signaling in Arabidopsis. We discuss the biotechnological potential of the mutant bHLH protein, HFR1-N105 in regard to suppressed shade avoidance syndrome.