Gene regulation by NO in plants

Regulating the homeostasis of NO as a multitasking signaling messenger is of critical significance. For the appropriate growth, development, function, metabolism, and protection of plants, reprogramming of cellular transcription profile through involvement of a wide range of regulatory elements, especially transcription factors, miRNA, activators, repressors, and chromatin-modifying machinery are required. NO acts as an integrating component toward signal transduction event. An overview of the mechanistic aspects by which the NO-triggered signaling and its interactions with other signaling routes, especially Ca +2 , reactive oxygen species (ROS), mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs), and phytohormones linked to the epigenetic regulations of nuclear transcription program is exhibited. In this chapter, the NO functions in gene regulations at multilayered pretranscriptional, transcriptional, and posttranscriptional levels, including the NO-responsive promoters/transcription factors, chromatin-remodeling machinery (epigenetic features), alternative splicing, and microRNA will be particularly focused.