Review: Dark signaling in plants ($)

Plants use light as a source of energy and information; however, they are also sensitive and respond to  light/dark diurnal cycling, with many processes happening during the dark phase of the diurnal cycle. In this review, Seluzicki et al. emphasize the importance of studying and understanding what happens with the physiology of plants in darkness. Focusing on growth and development in dark and in dark/light cycles, the authors give us a detailed account of current understanding of molecular processes underlying plant responses to darkness, including the roles of key players such as photoreceptors, transcription factors and hormones. The importance of the circadian clock and skotomorphogenesis (dark growth form) is discussed in the light of their potential multilineage evolutionary origins. The review is an exhaustive summary of many years of studies of numerous groups working on understanding how plants adjust their developmental programs in anticipation of the dark/light cycles. (Summary by Gaby Auge) Plant Cell Environ. doi: 10.1111/pce.12900