Richard G H Immink

Wageningen University & Research | WUR · Faculty of Plant Sciences

Many plant transcription factors (TFs) are multifunctional and regulate growth and development in more than one tissue. These TFs can generally associate with different protein partners depending on the tissue type, thereby regulating tissue-specific target gene sets. However, how interaction specificity is ensured is still largely unclear. Here, w...

Genes of the family PHOSPHATIDYLETHANOLAMINE‐BINDING PROTEINS ( PEBP ) have been intensely studied in plants for their role in cell (re)programming and meristem differentiation. Recently, sporadic reports of the presence of a new type of PEBP in plants became available, highly similar to the YY ‐ PEBPs of prokaryotes. A comprehensive investigation...

Early sprouting is a main cause of onion spoilage during storage. However, limited knowledge is available on which factors trigger sprouting. Here, this was studied in the Hyfive and Exhibition cultivars, which largely differ in sprouting time. Sprouting progress was compared to the fructan and abscisic acid (ABA) profiles in the bulb scales and ba...

Variation in shoot architecture, or tillering, is an important adaptive trait targeted during the domestication of crops. A well-known regulatory factor in shoot architecture is TEOSINTE BRANCHED 1 (TB1). TB1 and its orthologs have a conserved function in integrating environmental signals to regulate axillary branching, or tillering in cereals. The...

Plants are sessile by nature, and as such they have evolved to sense changes in seasonality and their surrounding environment, and adapt to these changes. One prime example of this is the regulation of flowering time in angiosperms, which is precisely timed by the coordinative action of two proteins: FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT), and TERMINAL FLOWER 1 (T...

Phytosulfokine (PSK) is a highly conserved plant peptide hormone (PPH) containing two sulfated tyrosine residues. PSK acts as a growth factor in Arabidopsis thaliana plant species and significantly improves the...

The Arabidopsis thaliana transcription factor BRANCHED1 (BRC1) plays a pivotal role in the control of shoot branching as it integrates environmental and endogenous signals that influence axillary bud growth. Despite its remarkable activity as a growth inhibitor, the mechanisms by which BRC1 promotes bud dormancy are largely unknown. We determined t...

Phytoplasmas are pathogenic bacteria that reprogram plant host development for their own benefit. Previous studies have characterized a few different phytoplasma effector proteins that destabilize specific plant transcription factors. However, these are only a small fraction of the potential effectors used by phytoplasmas; therefore, the molecular...

Chrysanthemum is a genus in the Asteraceae family containing numerous cut flower varieties with high ornamental value. It owes its beauty to the composite flower head, which resembles a compact inflorescence. This structure is also known as a capitulum, in which many ray and disc florets are densely packed. The ray florets are localized at the rim,...

Key message Understanding the molecular network, including protein-protein interactions, of VRS5 provide new routes towards the identification of other key regulators of plant architecture in barley. Abstract The TCP transcriptional regulator TEOSINTE BRANCHED 1 (TB1) is a key regulator of plant architecture. In barley, an important cereal crop, H...

Key message Comprehensive analysis of the FT/TFL1 gene family in Passiflora organensis results in understanding how these genes might be involved in the regulation of the typical plant architecture presented by Passiflora species. Passion fruit (Passiflora spp) is an economic tropical fruit crop, but there is hardly any knowledge available about th...

The MADS transcription factors (TF) are an ancient eukaryotic protein family. In plants, the family is divided into two main lineages. Here, we demonstrate that DNA binding in both lineages absolutely requires a short amino acid sequence C-terminal to the MADS domain (M domain) called the Intervening domain (I domain) that was previously defined on...

Certain obligate parasites induce complex and substantial phenotypic changes in their hosts in ways that favor their transmission to other trophic levels. However, the mechanisms underlying these changes remain largely unknown. Here we demonstrate how SAP05 protein effectors from insect-vectored plant pathogenic phytoplasmas take control of several...

The MADS transcription factors (TF) are an ancient eukaryotic protein family. In plants, the family is divided into two main lineages. Here, we demonstrate that DNA binding in both lineages absolutely requires a short amino acid sequence C-terminal to the MADS domain (M domain) called the Intervening domain (I domain) that was previously defined on...

Fire blight represents a widespread disease in Lilium spp. and is caused by the necrotrophic Ascomycete Botrytis elliptica. There are >100 Lilium species that fall into distinct phylogenetic groups and these have been used to generate the contemporary commercial genotypes. It is known among lily breeders and growers that different groups of lilies...

HEAT SHOCK FACTOR A2 (HSFA2) is a regulator of multiple environmental stress responses required for stress acclimation. We analyzed HSFA2 co-regulated genes and identified 43 genes strongly co-regulated with HSFA2 during multiple stresses. Motif enrichment analysis revealed an over-representation of the site II element (SIIE) in the promoters of th...

Barley is the fourth largest cereal crop grown worldwide, and essential for food and feed production. Phenotypically, the barley spike, which is unbranched, occurs in two main architectural shapes: two-rowed or six-rowed. In the 6-rowed cultivars, all three florets of the triple floret meristem develop into seeds while in 2-rowed lines only the cen...

The MADS transcription factors (TF) are an ancient protein family with a high degree of sequence identity that bind almost identical DNA sequences across all eukaryotic kingdoms of life, yet fulfill dramatically different physiological roles. In plants, the family is divided into two main lineages, type I and II, based on sequence conservation of t...

The MADS transcription factors (TF) are an ancient protein family with a high degree of sequence identity that bind almost identical DNA sequences across all eukaryotic kingdoms of life, yet fulfill dramatically different physiological roles. In plants, the family is divided into two main lineages, type I and II, based on sequence conservation of t...

Geophytes, the plants that form vegetative storage organs, are characterized by a dual reproduction system, in which vegetative and sexual propagation are tightly regulated to ensure fitness in harsh climatic conditions. Recent findings highlight the role of the PEBP (PHOSPHATIDYLETHANOLAMINE-BINDING PROTEINS) gene family in geophytes as major play...

Obligate parasites can induce complex and substantial phenotypic changes in their hosts in ways that favour their transmission to other trophic levels. However, mechanisms underlying these changes remain largely unknown. Here, we demonstrate how SAP05 protein effectors from insect-vectored plant pathogenic phytoplasmas take control of several plant...

The control of branch outgrowth is critical for plant fitness, stress resilience and crop yield. The Arabidopsis thaliana transcription factor BRANCHED1 (BRC1) plays a pivotal role in this process as it integrates signals that inhibit axillary bud growth to control shoot branching. Despite the remarkable activity of BRC1 as a potent growth inhibito...

Phytoplasmas are pathogenic bacteria that reprogram plant host development for their own benefit. Previous studies have characterized a few different phytoplasma effector proteins that destabilize specific plant transcription factors. However, these are only a small fraction of the potential effectors used by phytoplasmas; therefore, the molecular...

Members of the Arabidopsis thaliana TCP transcription factor (TF) family affect plant growth and development. We systematically quantified the effect of mutagenizing single or multiple TCP TFs and how altered vegetative growth or branching influences final seed yield. We monitored rosette growth over time and branching patterns and seed yield chara...

Motivation: Predicting residue-residue contacts between interacting proteins is an important problem in bioinformatics. The growing wealth of sequence data can be used to infer these contacts through correlated mutation analysis on multiple sequence alignments of interacting homologs of the proteins of interest. This requires correct identificatio...

Background: Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have emerged as new class of regulatory molecules in animals where they regulate gene expression at transcriptional and post-transcriptional level. Recent studies also identified lncRNAs in plant genomes, revealing a new level of transcriptional complexity in plants. Thousands of lncRNAs have been predict...

Key message: Tulip vegetative reproduction. Tulips reproduce asexually by the outgrowth of their axillary meristems located in the axil of each bulb scale. The number of axillary meristems in one bulb is low, and not all of them grow out during the yearly growth cycle of the bulb. Since the degree of axillary bud outgrowth in tulip determines the...

Figure S2. Construction, expression and leaf phenotype of ATML1 pro :TCP5‐GFP.

Figure S3. Floral phenotypes in TCP5 overexpression and mutant lines.

Table S4. Primers used in this study.

Figure S5. Summary of RNA sequencing results.

Table S3. List of Gene Ontology terms (full analysis).

Figure S1. Expression pattern of TCP5 in Arabidopsis petals during early and later stages of flower development.

Figure S7. Phenotypes of the 35S pro :TCP5‐GR mutant after dexamethasone treatment.

Figure S8. Phenotypical alterations in petals of mutants deficient in ethylene reception and signal transduction.

Table S1. Lists of differentially expressed genes after RNA‐seq analysis of all samples used in this study.

Table S2. List of GO Slim annotation results.

Figure S4. Graphic representation accompanying the cell morphology phenotyping.

Figure S6. Gene Ontology term analysis.

During the plant life cycle, diverse signalling inputs are continuously integrated and engage specific genetic programs depending on the cellular or developmental context. Consistent with an important role in this process, HECATE (HEC) bHLH transcription factors display diverse functions, from photomorphogenesis to the control of shoot meristem dyn...

Flowers of most dicotyledons have petals that, together with the sepals, initially protect the reproductive organs. Later during development petals are required to open the flower and to attract pollinators. These diverse set of functions demand a tight temporal and spatial regulation of petal development. We studied the functioning of the Arabidop...

During the plant life cycle, diverse signalling inputs are continuously integrated and engage specific genetic programs depending on the cellular or developmental context. Consistent with an important role in this process, HECATE (HEC) bHLH transcription factors display diverse functions, from photomorphogenesis to the control of shoot meristem dyn...

Predicting residue-residue contacts between interacting proteins is an important problem in bioinformatics. The growing wealth of sequence data can be used to infer these contacts through correlated mutation analysis on multiple sequence alignments of interacting homologs of the proteins of interest. This requires correct identification of pairs of...

Background The chromosome conformation capture (3C) technique is a method to study chromatin interactions at specific genomic loci. Initially established for yeast the 3C technique has been adapted to plants in recent years in order to study chromatin interactions and their role in transcriptional gene regulation. As the plant scientific community...

Floral induction in Tulipa gesneriana and Lilium longiflorum is triggered by contrasting temperature conditions, high and low temperature respectively. In Arabidopsis, the floral integrator FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT), member of the PEBP gene family, is a key player in flowering time control. In this study, one PEBP gene was identified and characterized...

Background: Floral timing is a carefully regulated process, in which the plant determines the optimal moment to switch from the vegetative to reproductive phase. While there are numerous genes known that control flowering time, little information is available on chemical compounds that are able to influence this process. We aimed to discover novel...

Background Global warming severely affects flowering time and reproductive success of plants. Alternative splicing of pre-messenger RNA (mRNA) is an important mechanism underlying ambient temperature-controlled responses in plants, yet its regulation is poorly understood. An increase in temperature promotes changes in plant morphology as well as th...

Plants adjust their development and architecture to small variations in ambient temperature. In a time in which temperatures are rising world-wide, the mechanism by which plants are able to sense temperature fluctuations and adapt to it, is becoming of special interest. By performing RNA-sequencing on two Arabidopsis accession and one Brassica spec...

Validation of RNAseq results by qPCR (DOCX)

Flowering time analysis of A. thaliana Gy-0. (DOCX)

Overview of all differential splicing events in this study, reciprocally spliced genes, genes in BiNGO analysis, spliced splicing genes. (XLSX)

Sequence alignment of MAF3 isoforms (DOCX)

Oligo’s used in this study. (DOCX)

Detected splicing event counts. (DOCX)

Alignments of all differential events A. thaliana Col-0 low temperature. (PDF)

Alignments of all differential events B. oleracea. (PDF)

Alignments of all differential events A. thaliana Col-0 high temperature. (PDF)