Plant and Cell Physiology Advance Access published online on January 22, 2009
Plant and Cell Physiology, doi:10.1093/pcp/pcp001
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Four TFL1/CEN-like genes on distinct linkage groups show different expression patterns to regulate vegetative and reproductive development in apple (Malus x domestica Borkh.).
1Apple Breeding and Physiology Research Team, National Institute of Fruit Tree Science, Shimo-kuriyagawa, 92-24 Nabe-yashiki, Shimo-kuriyagawa, Morioka 020-0123, Japan
2Aomori Green Biocenter, Aomori Prefectural Agriculture and Forestry Research Center, 221-10 Yamaguchi, Nogi, Aomori 030-0142, Japan
Corresponding author: Nobuhiro Kotoda, Fruit Genome Research Team, National Institute of Fruit Tree Science, 485-6 Okitsu-nakacho, Shimizu, Shizuoka, 424-0292 Japan, Tel.: +81-54 (369) 7100, Fax: +81-54 (369) 2115, E-mail: koto{at}affrc.go.jp
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Abstract |
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Recent molecular analyses in several plant species revealed that TERMINAL FLOWER1 (TFL1) and CENTRORADIALIS (CEN) homologs are involved in regulating the flowering time and/or maintaining the inflorescence meristem. In apple (Malus x domestica Borkh.), four TFL1/CEN-like genes, MdTFL1, MdTFL1a, MdCENa, and MdCENb, were found and mapped by a similar position on putatively homoeologous linkage groups. Apple TFL1/CEN-like genes functioned equivalently to TFL1 when expressed constitutively in transgenic Arabidopsis plants, suggesting that they have a potential to complement the TFL1 function. Because MdTFL1 and MdTFL1a were expressed in the vegetative tissues in both the adult and juvenile phases, they could function redundantly as a flowering repressor and a regulator of vegetative meristem identity. On the other hand, MdCENa was mainly expressed in fruit receptacles, cultured tissues, and roots, suggesting that it is involved in the development of proliferating tissues but not in the control of the transition from the juvenile to the adult phase. In contrast, MdCENb was silenced in most organs likely due to gene duplication by the polyploid origin of apple. The expression patterns of MdTFL1 and MdCENa in apple was also supported by the heterologous expression of GUS fused with their promoter regions in transgenic Arabidopsis. Our results suggest that functional divergence of the roles in the regulation of vegetative meristem identity may have occurred among four TFL1/CEN-like genes during evolution in apple.
Keywords: Apple - CENTRORADIALIS (CEN) - flowering time - gene family - Malus x domestica Borkh - TERMINAL FLOWER1 (TFL1)
The nucleotide sequences reported in this paper have been submitted to the DDBJ under accession numbers AB366637 [GenBank] (MdCENa genomic DNA), AB366638 [GenBank] (MdCENb genomic DNA), AB366639 [GenBank] (MdTFL1 genomic DNA), AB366640 [GenBank] (MdTFL1a genomic DNA), AB366641 [GenBank] (MdCENa mRNA), AB366642 [GenBank] (MdCENb mRNA), AB366643 [GenBank] (MdTFL1a mRNA), AB458503 [GenBank] (MdAP1a mRNA).
3Present address: Fruit Genome Research Team, National Institute of Fruit Tree Science, 485-6 Okitsu-nakacho, Shimizu, Shizuoka 424-0292, Japan
(Received September 1, 2008; Accepted January 2, 2009)
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