Arbor function of TRANSPARENT TESTA GLABRA 1 and LIGHT REGULATED WD TLWD scaffold proteins in Arabidopsis clocks includes transcriptional repression through PSEUDO RESPONSE REGULATORS

Arabidopsis circadian oscillators contain DNA-binding proteins that function at specific times of the day. In contrast, we have discovered a unique continuous function of WD40-repeat scaffold proteins from the TRANSPARENT TESTA GLABRA-1 (TTG1), LIGHT REGULATED WD1 and LIGHT REGULATED LWD2 subfamily (TLWD) which is essential to maintain circadian rhythms. Gene expression analyses indicate multifunctional activity of TLWD in both transcriptional activation and repression. TLWD proteins interact with an array of circadian oscillator activators and repressors that act sequentially through the diel cycle. While TLWD proteins were known to participate in activator complexes, our data indicate a novel role of TLWD in transcriptional repression through complex formation with repressors from the PSEUDO RESPONSE REGULATOR (PRR) family. In the mechanical clock analogy, TLWD scaffold proteins constitute the arbor to which transcription factors, which represent the cogs, bind to sustain circadian rhythms.