Fig. 8: Phosphorylation of the C-terminal domain of eIF2α promotes photomorphogenesis.

a Phenotypes of 3-day-old eIF2α.2-WT, eIF2α.2-8A, and eIF2α.2-8D transgenic seedlings under dark condition. b Phenotypes of 3-day-old eIF2α.2-WT, eIF2α.2-8A, and eIF2α.2-8D transgenic seedlings under long day condition (16 h-light/day). c Phenotypes of 3-day-old eIF2α.2-WT, eIF2α.2-8A, and eIF2α.2-8D transgenic seedlings with 50 μmol m²s⁻¹ red light exposure (24 h-red light/day). Scale bar represents 1 cm. Bar graph showing the hypocotyl lengths or cotyledon opening angle of eIF2α.2-WT, eIF2α.2-8A, and eIF2α.2-8D transgenic lines grown under different illumination conditions. The data represent means ± SD (n = 30) of biological replicates. Letters above the bars indicate significant differences (p-value < 0.01), as determined by one-way ANOVA with Tukey’s post hoc analysis. For the box and whisker plots (a–c), the boxes represent from the 25th to the 75th percentile and the bars equal the median values. d Chlorophyll contents in 3-day-old dark-grown eIF2α.2-WT, eIF2α.2-8A, and eIF2α.2-8D transgenic seedlings sampling after 4 h white light illumination. Error bars indicate the mean ± SD (n = 5 biological repeats). *p-value < 0.01, two-sided Student’s t test. e Relative fluorescence of protochlorophyllide in 3-day-old dark-grown eIF2α.2-WT, eIF2α.2-8A, and eIF2α.2-8D transgenic seedlings.