BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article
Front. Plant Physiol.
Sec. Environmental Interactions
A COP1-HY5-ABI5 module regulates ABA-mediated post-germination developmental arrest
Provisionally accepted
- 1Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Bhopal, Bhopal, India
- 2Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, India
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Abscisic Acid (ABA) is a key phytohormone that regulates plant development under stress. ABA induces dormancy in seeds during maturation, whereas its levels and activity gradually decrease as germination and seedling growth progress. Under abiotic stress conditions, elevated levels of ABA inhibit seed germination and/or impose post-germination growth arrest. The transcription factor ABSCISIC ACID INSENSITIVE 5 (ABI5) regulates the interplay between ABA and light signaling to modulate this process. The light-regulated transcription factor ELONGATED HYPOCOTYL 5 (HY5) modulates ABA-mediated inhibition of post-germination development. However, the interrelation between HY5 and ABI5 in regulating post-germination development remains poorly understood. Here, using molecular, genetic, and biochemical approaches, we show that ABI5 and HY5 proteins reciprocally influence each other's accumulation during early plant development. We further find that ABA induces nuclear accumulation of COP1, which correlates with reduced HY5 levels and enhanced ABI5 accumulation under stress conditions. Together, our results support a model in which a double-negative feedback loop between HY5 and ABI5 contributes to ABA-mediated post-germination growth arrest.
Keywords: ABA signaling, HY5 (ELONGATED HYPOCOTYL 5), ABI5 (ABA insensitive 5), post germination, seedling development
Received: 29 Jul 2025; Accepted: 03 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Singh, Yadukrishnan, Rahul and Datta. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Sourav Datta, sdatta@iiserb.ac.in
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