PHOTOTROPIN 1 and 2 regulate photosynthesis and UV-induced oxidative stress and cell death

Phototropins are plasma membrane‐associated photoreceptors of blue light. Arabidopsis thaliana genome has two genes, PHOT1 and PHOT2, encoding two phototropins that mediate phototropism, chloroplast positioning and stomatal opening. They are well characterized in terms of photomorphogenetic processes, but so far little was known about their involvement in photosynthesis and response to stress factors triggering oxidative stress and cell death. This work fills the gap in our understanding of PHOT1 and PHOT2 involvement in these processes. We used UV-C treatment to promote oxidative stress and cell death in Arabidopsis thaliana wild-type (Col-0 gl1), phot1, phot2 and phot1/phot2 mutants. Using RNAseq we identified genes differentially expressed in phot mutants, in comparison to the wild-type, in both non-stress conditions and after UV-C stress. Four genotypes (wild-type, phot1, phot2, phot1/phot2) x two conditions (non-treated and UV-treated)