1/n Finally out in @NaturePlants : our story of a temperature-sensitive RNA structure that controls PIF7 translation to boost growth at warm temperature. joint venture with Betty Chung, @DiAntonioLAB1, @PhilWigge @slcuplants https://www.nature.com/articles/s41477-020-0633-3">https://www.nature.com/articles/...

2/n If you want a bit more info: Using Ribo-seq, we find that the PIF7 transcript is preferentially translated at warm temperature. Higher protein abundance then leads to increased target gene expression (auxin & growth related genes)

3/n We then confirmed that PIF7 is indeed involved in #thermomorphogenesis, controlling stem elongation and stomata formation at warm temperature – see also the publication by the @FankhauserCh lab https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nph.16316">https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/...

4/n Lead by the mechanisms of bacterial RNA thermometers, we identified a thermosensitive RNA structure in the PIF7 5’ UTR. Unlike these thermometers, the PIF7 thermoswitch doesn& #39;t melt entirely, but adopts a distinct conformation at warm temperature, which promotes translation.

5/5 Can we consider the PIF7 thermoswitch (and others we predict in our paper) as a temperature sensor? Well, it certainly displays thermosensory behaviour, but we need to understand the mechanism of how it enhances translation in more detail. More to discover in the future!