Temporal transcriptional response to ethylene gas drives growth hormone cross-regulation in Arabidopsis

All multicellular organisms, including plants, produce hormones—chemical messengers that are released in one part of an organism but act in another. The binding of hormones to receptor proteins on the surface of target cells activates signal transduction cascades, leading ultimately to changes in the transcription and translation of genes. Ethylene is a gaseous plant hormone that acts at trace levels to stimulate or regulate a variety of processes, including the regulation of plant growth, the ripening of fruit and the shedding of leaves. Plants also produce ethylene in response to wounding, pathogen attack or exposure to environmental stresses, such as extreme temperatures or drought. Although the effects of ethylene on plants are well documented, much less is known about how its functions are controlled and coordinated at the molecular level. Here, Chang et al. reveal how ethylene alters the transcription of DNA into messenger DNA (mRNA) in the plant model organism, Arabidopsis thaliana. Ethylene is known to exert some of its effects via a protein called EIN3, which is a transcription factor that acts as the master regulator of the ethylene signaling pathway. To identify the targets of EIN3, Chang et al. exposed plants to ethylene and then used a technique called ChIP-Seq to identify those regions of the DNA that EIN3 binds to. At the same time, they used genome-wide mRNA sequencing to determine which genes showed altered transcription. Over the course of 24 hr, ethylene induced four distinct waves of transcription, suggesting that discrete layers of transcriptional control are present. EIN3 binding also controlled a multitude of downstream transcriptional cascades, including a major negative feedback loop. Surprisingly, many of the genes that showed altered expression in response to EIN3 binding were also influenced by hormones other than ethylene. In addition to extending our knowledge of the role of EIN3 in coordinating the effects of ethylene, the work of Chang et al. reveals the extensive connectivity between pathways regulated by distinct hormones in plants. The results may also make it easier to identify key players involved in hormone signaling pathways in other plant species.