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Updated: May 15, 2026

Chromatin Immunoprecipitation Assay for the Identification of Arabidopsis Protein-DNA Interactions In Vivo
Published on: January 14, 2016
Arabidopsis chromatin remodeling factor PICKLE interacts with transcription factor HY5 to regulate hypocotyl cell
Yanjun Jing1, Dong Zhang, Xin Wang
1Key Laboratory of Photobiology, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China.
Abstract:
Photomorphogenesis is a critical plant developmental process that involves light-mediated transcriptome changes, histone modifications, and inhibition of hypocotyl growth. However, the chromatin-based regulatory mechanism underlying this process remains largely unknown. Here, we identify ENHANCED PHOTOMORPHOGENIC1 (EPP1), previously known as PICKLE (PKL), an ATP-dependent chromatin remodeling factor of the chromodomain/helicase/DNA binding family, as a repressor of photomorphogenesis in Arabidopsis thaliana. We show that PKL/EPP1 expression is repressed by light in the hypocotyls in a photoreceptor-dependent manner. Furthermore, we reveal that the transcription factor ELONGATED HYPOCOTYL5 (HY5) binds to the promoters of cell elongation-related genes and recruits PKL/EPP1 through their physical interaction. PKL/EPP1 in turn negatively regulates HY5 by repressing trimethylation of histone H3 Lys 27 at the target loci, thereby regulating the expression of these genes and, thus, hypocotyl elongation. We also show that HY5 possesses transcriptional repression activity. Our study reveals a crucial role for a chromatin remodeling factor in repressing photomorphogenesis and demonstrates that transcription factor-mediated recruitment of chromatin-remodeling machinery is important for plant development in response to changing light environments.
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