Sucrose-induced hypocotyl elongation of Arabidopsis seedlings in darkness depends on the presence of gibberellins

In this study, the effects of sucrose on hypocotyl elongation of Arabidopsis seedlings in light and in dark were investigated. Sucrose suppressed the hypocotyl elongation of Arabidopsis seedlings in light, but stimulated elongation in dark. Application of paclobutrazol (PAC, a gibberellin biosynthesis inhibitor) impaired the effects of sucrose on hypocotyl elongation, suggesting that endogenous GAs is required for sucrose-induced hypocotyl elongation in the dark. Exogenous GA3 application reversed the repression caused by PAC application, indicating that exogenous GA3 could substitute, at least partially, for endogenous GAs in sucrose-induced hypocotyl elongation. In addition, we found that GA 3-oxidase 1 (GA3ox1), encoding a key enzyme involved in endogenous bioactive GA biosynthesis, was up-regulated by sucrose in the dark, whereas GIBBERELLIN INSENSITIVE DWARF 1a (AtGID1a), encoding a GA receptor and playing an important role during GAs degradation to DELLA proteins (DELLAs, repressors of GA-induced plant growth), was down-regulated. These results imply that endogenous bioactive GA levels are expected to be enhanced, but the degradation of DELLAs was inhibited by sucrose in dark. Thus, our data suggest that the sucrose-induced hypocotyl elongation in the dark does not result from GA-induced degradation of DELLAs. We conclude that sucrose can stimulate hypocotyl elongation of Arabidopsis seedlings in the dark in a GA-dependent manner.