SignificanceLight coordinates energy production, growth, and survival throughout plant development. In Arabidopsis, light stimulates transcriptional reprogramming during developmental transitions such as photomorphogenesis and flowering through the action of photoreceptors, transcription factors, and signaling components. Here we assign a function to a member of the zinc-finger homeodomain (ZFHD) transcription factor family in regulating light-induced development. Our findings reveal ZFHD10 to be a missing link in understanding how the recently discovered integrator of light and photoperiodic flowering, TANDEM ZINC-FINGER PLUS3 (TZP), controls the expression of growth-promoting transcriptional regulators via direct association with light-regulated promoter elements. Elucidating how such novel protein complexes coordinate gene expression will allow scientists and breeders to optimize plant growth and development in response to unfavorable environmental conditions.

HighlightsArabidopsis and rice genomes exhibit diversity in chromatin organization in three-dimension.Light triggers changes in genome topology and transcriptional activity.Plant photoreceptors control nuclear morphology and chromatin architecture.Temperature fluctuations modify local chromatin structure and transcriptional activity.