ABSCISIC ACID-INSENSITIVE 4 negatively regulates flowering through directly promoting Arabidopsis FLOWERING LOCUS C transcription

During the life cycle of a plant, one of the major biological processes is the transition from the vegetative to the reproductive stage. In Arabidopsis, flowering time is precisely controlled by extensive environmental and internal cues. Gibberellins (GAs) promote flowering, while abscisic acid (ABA) is considered as a flowering suppressor. However, the detailed mechanism through which ABA inhibits the floral transition is poorly understood. Here, we report that ABSCISIC ACID-INSENSITIVE 4 (ABI4), a key component in the ABA signalling pathway, negatively regulates floral transition by directly promoting FLOWERING LOCUS C (FLC) transcription. The abi4 mutant showed the early flowering phenotype whereas ABI4-overexpressing (OE-ABI4) plants had delayed floral transition. Consistently, quantitative reverse transcription–PCR (qRT–PCR) assay revealed that the FLC transcription level was down-regulated in abi4, but up-regulated in OE-ABI4. The change in FT level was consistent with the pattern of FLC expression. Chromatin immunoprecipitation-qPCR (ChIP-qPCR), electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA), and tobacco transient expression analysis showed that ABI4 promotes FLC expression by directly binding to its promoter. Genetic analysis demonstrated that OE-ABI4::flc-3 could not alter the flc-3 phenotype. OE-FLC::abi4 showed a markedly delayed flowering phenotype, which mimicked OE-FLC::WT, and suggested that ABI4 acts upstream of FLC in the same genetic pathway. Taken together, these findings suggest that ABA inhibits the floral transition by activating FLC transcription through ABI4.