PIL5 represses floral transition in Arabidopsis under long day conditions

PHYTOCHROME INTERACING FACTOR 3 LIKE 5 (PIL5), also named PHYTOCHROME INTERACTING FACTOR 1 (PIF1) is an important b-HLH transcription factor in Arabidopsis thaliana. Here we show that mutant of pil5-1 displays early flowering phenotype. We demonstrate that the expressions of the major flowering promoter genes [FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT), SUPPRESOR OF OVEREXPRESSION OF CO 1 (SOC1), and LEAFY (LFY)] are upregulated in the mutant of pil5-1. There is a significant increase of the mRNA of PIL5 in the mutants of co2-1, ft-10, soc1-2, and lfy-4. These changes provide the molecular evidence that PIL5 interacts with the flowering regulators to control flowering time. Moreover, it is shown in our results that PIL5 mutation mediates the increased contents of gibberellic acid (GA). Which is further supported by the qRT-PCR analysis, an increased transcriptome level of the GA biosynthesis genes (GA3ox1, GA3ox2, GA20ox1, GA20ox2, and GA20ox3) has been observed in the pil5-1 mutants as compared to the wild type. Collectively, PIL5 is involved in floral transition interacting with flowering integrators and GA.