P-body mediated translational control in photomorphogenesis

Light, an important environmental factor regulates most of plant physiology and development. In the photomorphogenic stage, light globally enhances translation status in de-etiolating Arabidopsis seedlings. More than 1500 genes showed increased translation but not transcription in this developmental process. This implies these mRNAs are translationally repressed in dark-grown seedlings. Through transcriptome and translatome comparisons, we revealed that p-bodies attenuate the translation of mRNAs in the etiolated seedlings. We found hundreds of mRNAs accumulated and also increased translation for thousands of genes in dark-grown dcp5-1, including genes known to regulate the transition from skotomorphogenesis to photomorphogenesis. Our data reports p-bodies regulate both RNA stability and attenuation of translation for specific mRNAs in the dark. Three biological replicates for control and dcp5-1 4-d-old etiolated seedlings with or without 4 h of white-light treatment.