Light and Plant Development

Regulatory light signals are detected by an array of specialised, information-transducing photoreceptors, including the phytochrome, cryptochrome and phototropin families of chromoproteins. In recent years the application of genetic, biochemical and molecular studies has led to the identification and characterisation not only of the photoreceptors and their genes, but also of many of the components that act downstream of photoreceptor activation. It is evident that the photoreceptors operate through interactions with one another and with other signalling systems, so forming complex response networks. This volume provides the reader with state-of-the-art accounts of our current understanding of the major classes of higher plant regulatory photoreceptors and the signal transduction networks that comprise plant developmental photobiology. Consideration is also given to the ways in which our knowledge of plant photoreceptors and their signalling networks can be exploited to improve the quality and productivity of commercially-grown plants.