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PreprintCC BY-NC-NDbioRxiv

Evolutionary co-option of the ancient protein AMBRA1 in plant photomorphogenesis

  • C. Beraldo
  • V. Apollonov
  • L. Dalla Valle
  • L. Vidali
  • A. Hiltbrunner
  • T. Morosinotto
  • A. Alboresi1
  1. 1University of Padova
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Abstract

Photomorphogenesis, the light-driven developmental program of plants, is repressed in darkness by the CUL4-DDB1-COP1 ubiquitin ligase complex. In animals, AMBRA1 is a substrate receptor for the same CUL4-DDB1 machinery, regulating proteostasis, cell proliferation and autophagy, but its role in plants has remained unknown. Here we show that the moss Physcomitrium patens carries two light-regulated AMBRA1 genes, AMBRA1a and AMBRA1b, whose loss impairs vegetative growth and cell-fate transitions under light and prevents the elongation of gravitropic filaments in darkness, indicating that AMBRA1 is required to repress photomorphogenesis. AMBRA1 localizes to the nucleus under both long-day and dark conditions, and its loss causes widespread transcriptional reprogramming of developmental and metabolic pathways, including repression of photosynthesis-related genes in darkness. These findings identify AMBRA1 as a previously unrecognized nuclear regulator that links light availability to plant growth and as a key repressor of photomorphogenesis.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@misc{beraldo2026evolutionary,
  title = {{Evolutionary co-option of the ancient protein AMBRA1 in plant photomorphogenesis}},
  author = {C. Beraldo and V. Apollonov and L. Dalla Valle and L. Vidali and A. Hiltbrunner and T. Morosinotto and A. Alboresi},
  howpublished = {bioRxiv},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.64898/2026.10.14.758420},
  url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.14.758420v1},
  note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY  - UNPB
TI  - Evolutionary co-option of the ancient protein AMBRA1 in plant photomorphogenesis
AU  - C. Beraldo
AU  - V. Apollonov
AU  - L. Dalla Valle
AU  - L. Vidali
AU  - A. Hiltbrunner
AU  - T. Morosinotto
AU  - A. Alboresi
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/14
PB  - bioRxiv
DO  - 10.64898/2026.10.14.758420
UR  - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.14.758420v1
AB  - Photomorphogenesis, the light-driven developmental program of plants, is repressed in darkness by the CUL4-DDB1-COP1 ubiquitin ligase complex. In animals, AMBRA1 is a substrate receptor for the same CUL4-DDB1 machinery, regulating proteostasis, cell proliferation and autophagy, but its role in plants has remained unknown. Here we show that the moss Physcomitrium patens carries two light-regulated AMBRA1 genes, AMBRA1a and AMBRA1b, whose loss impairs vegetative growth and cell-fate transitions under light and prevents the elongation of gravitropic filaments in darkness, indicating that AMBRA1 is required to repress photomorphogenesis. AMBRA1 localizes to the nucleus under both long-day and dark conditions, and its loss causes widespread transcriptional reprogramming of developmental and metabolic pathways, including repression of photosynthesis-related genes in darkness. These findings identify AMBRA1 as a previously unrecognized nuclear regulator that links light availability to plant growth and as a key repressor of photomorphogenesis.
ER  -