@Article{phyton.2026.067796,
AUTHOR = {Yue Jin, Xiaoying Tang, Bingke Wei, Lulu Zhi, Yan Mao, García-Caparrós Pedro, Xiangyang Hu},
TITLE = {A Transcriptional Suppressor NTL8 Interacts with CONSTANS to Control Photoperiod-Mediated Flowering Time in <i>Arabidopsis thaliana</i>},
JOURNAL = {Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany},
VOLUME = {95},
YEAR = {2026},
NUMBER = {3},
PAGES = {--},
URL = {http://www.techscience.com/phyton/v95n3/66762},
ISSN = {1851-5657},
ABSTRACT = {Plants perceive rhythmic photoperiodic signals to modulate flowering time. In <i>Arabidopsis thaliana</i>, long-day light conditions accelerate flowering through CONSTANS (CO)-activated FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT) signal pathway. The CO protein abundance presents circadian oscillation, enabling precise regulation of <i>FT</i> transcription. NTL8 belongs to the NAC transcription factor family and is reported to control leaf trichome development. Here, we reported that NTL8 regulated flowering time in Arabidopsis, because overexpressing <i>NTL8</i> significantly delayed flowering time, whereas loss-of-function mutant of <i>NTL8</i> accelerated flowering time. <i>NTL8</i> also presented circadian expression, maintaining elevated transcript levels during the daytime. Biochemical and genetic analyses revealed that NTL8 physically interacted with CO <i>in planta</i>, thereby antagonizing CO activity and repressing <i>FT</i> expression to delay the flowering time. Furthermore, overexpressing <i>NTL8</i> reduced the protein stability of CO, particularly by attenuating CO accumulation in the morning time and promoting CO degradation during the night. Collectively, our findings indicated that NTL8 delayed photoperiod-dependent flowering time by suppressing CO-mediated activation of <i>FT</i> expression and destabilizing CO protein. This study uncovers a previously unrecognized role for NTL8 in coordinating circadian and photoperiodic signals to fine-tune flowering time in <i>Arabidopsis thaliana</i>.},
DOI = {10.32604/phyton.2026.067796}
}