Molecular Condensation of the CO/NF-YB/NF-YC/FT Complex Gates Floral Transition in Arabidopsis

Overview

Journal EMBO J

Specialties Biotechnology
Molecular Biology

Date 2024 Nov 20

PMID 39567828

Authors

Xiang Huang

Zhiming Ma

Danxia He

Xiao Han

Xu Liu

Qiong Dong

Cuirong Tan

Bin Yu

Tiedong Sun

Lars Nordenskiold

Lanyuan Lu

Yansong Miao

Xingliang Hou

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

The plant master photoperiodic regulator CONSTANS (CO) interacts with Nuclear Factor-Y subunits B2 (NF-YB2) and C9 (NF-YC9) and transcriptionally activates the florigen gene FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT), regulating floral transition. However, the molecular mechanism of the functional four-component complex assembly in the nucleus remains elusive. We report that co-phase separation of CO with NF-YB2/NF-YC9/FT precisely controls heterogeneous CO assembly and FT transcriptional activation. In response to light signals, CO proteins form functional percolation clusters from a diffuse distribution in a B-box-motif-dependent manner. Multivalent coassembly with NF-YC9 and NF-YB2 prevents inhibitory condensate formation and is necessary to maintain proper CO assembly and material properties. The intrinsically disordered region (IDR) of NF-YC9, containing a polyglutamine motif, fine-tunes the functional properties of CO/NF-YB/NF-YC condensates. Specific FT promoter recognition with polyelectrolyte partitioning also enables the fluidic functional properties of CO/NF-YB/NF-YC/FT condensates. Our findings offer novel insights into the tunable macromolecular condensation of the CO/NF-YB/NF-YC/FT complex in controlling flowering in the photoperiod control.

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