Gene

Cell biology

Circadian rhythm

Cryptochrome

Neuroscience

Biology

Materials science

Genetics

Physics

Arabidopsis

Circadian clock

Optics

Blue light

Mutant

Timeless

Transcription factor

Phototropin

Optoelectronics

Nature Communications

Cryptochromes are blue light receptors that regulate plant growth and development. They also act as the core components of the central clock oscillator in animals. Although plant cryptochromes have been reported to regulate the circadian clock in blue light, how they do so is unclear. Here we show that Arabidopsis cryptochrome 2 (CRY2) forms photobodies with the TCP22 transcription factor in response to blue light in plant cells. We provide evidence that PPK kinases influence the characteristics of these photobodies and that together these components, along with LWD transcriptional regulators, can positively regulate the expression of CCA1 encoding a central component of the circadian oscillator.

Arabidopsis cryptochrome 2 forms photobodies with TCP22 under blue light and regulates the circadian clock