show Abstracthide AbstractThis study identified LEAFY (LFY) as a pioneer transcription factor. We made use of 35S:LFY-GR, an inducible version of the LFY protein fused to the rat glucocorticoid hormone binding domain. In root explants, steroid activated LFY-GR triggers synchronous and abundant flower induction (PMID: 15225291). We combined LFY ChIP-seq, MNase-seq before and after LFY binding and time-course RNA-seq in 35S:LFY-GR root explants to characterize the role of LFY as a pioneer transcription factor. Overall design: Identification of 35S:LFY-GR induced genes using RNA-seq in the Ler ecotype of Arabidopsis thaliana. Root explants were treated with mock or dexamethasone solution for 1hr, 6hr or 24hr. Two biological replicates were sequenced per condition.