期刊
PLANT JOURNAL
卷 86, 期 2, 页码 145-160出版社
WILEY
DOI: 10.1111/tpj.13156
关键词
Medicago truncatula; VRN2; Polycomb; PRC2; FTa1; early flowering; repressor; photoperiod; vernalisation
资金
- New Zealand Foundation for Research Science and Technology [C10X0816 MeriNET]
- New Zealand Marsden Fund [10-UOA-200, 14-UOA-125]
- Division Of Integrative Organismal Systems
- Direct For Biological Sciences [1127155] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
Optimising the timing of flowering contributes to successful sexual reproduction and yield in agricultural plants. FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT) genes, first identified in Arabidopsis thaliana (Arabidopsis), promote flowering universally, but the upstream flowering regulatory pathways can differ markedly among plants. Flowering in the model legume, Medicago truncatula (Medicago) is accelerated by winter cold (vernalisation) followed by long day (LD) photoperiods leading to elevated expression of the floral activator, FT-like gene FTa1. However, Medicago, like some other plants, lacks the activator CONSTANS (CO) and the repressor FLOWERING LOCUS C (FLC) genes which directly regulate FT and are key to LD and vernalisation responses in Arabidopsis. Conversely, Medicago has a VERNALISATION2-LIKEVEFS-box gene (MtVRN2). In Arabidopsis AtVRN2 is a key member of a Polycomb complex involved in stable repression of Arabidopsis FLC after vernalisation. VRN2-like genes have been identified in other eudicot plants, but their function has never been reported. We show that Mtvrn2 mutants bypass the need for vernalisation for early flowering in LD conditions in Medicago. Investigation of the underlying mechanism by transcriptome analysis reveals that Mtvrn2 mutants precociously express FTa1 and other suites of genes including floral homeotic genes. Double-mutant analysis indicates that early flowering is dependent on functional FTa1. The broad significance of our study is that we have demonstrated a function for a VRN2-like VEFS gene beyond the Brassicaceae. In particular, MtVRN2 represses the transition to flowering in Medicago by regulating the onset of expression of the potent floral activator, FTa1.
作者
我是这篇论文的作者
点击您的名字以认领此论文并将其添加到您的个人资料中。
推荐
暂无数据