Cloning and Characterization of FLOWERING LOCUS T -Like Genes from the Perennial Geophyte Saffron Crocus ( Crocus sativu
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Cloning and Characterization of FLOWERING LOCUS T-Like Genes from the Perennial Geophyte Saffron Crocus (Crocus sativus) Athanasios Tsaftaris & Konstantinos Pasentsis & Anagnostis Argiriou
# Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013
Abstract The transition to flowering is one of the most important developmental decisions made by plants. At the molecular level, many genes coordinate this transition. Among these, genes encoding for phosphatidylethanolamine-binding proteins (PEBPs) play important roles in regulating flower time and the fate of inflorescence meristem. To investigate the role of PEBPs in an industrially important crop cultivated for its nutritional and medicinal properties, the monocotyledonous species Crocus sativus L., we have isolated three FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT)-like genes designated as CsatFT1-like, CsatFT2-like, and CsatFT3-like. The isolated genes maintain the exon/intron organization of FT-like genes and encode proteins similar to the members of the PEBP family. Phylogenetic and amino acid analysis at critical positions confirmed that the isolated sequence belongs to the FT clade of the PEBP family phylogeny distinctly from the TERMINAL FLOWER 1 (TFL1) and MOTHER OF FT AND TFL1 clades. Expression analysis indicated differences in the expression of the three FT-like genes in different organs and different expressions during the day–night diurnal clock. Additionally, analysis of isolated promoter sequences using computational methods reveals the preservation of common binding motifs in FT-like promoters from other species, thus suggesting their importance among plant species. A. Tsaftaris : K. Pasentsis : A. Argiriou (*) Institute of Applied Biosciences, Centre for Research and Technology Hellas, 6th Km Charilaou Thermis Road, Thermi 570 01, Greece e-mail: [email protected] A. Tsaftaris Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki 540 06, Greece
Keywords Crocus . Flowering . FLOWERING LOCUS T . PCR . Saffron
Introduction Flowering is a major developmental switch in plants and involves a transition from vegetative to reproductive growth. Because reproductive success of plants could be significantly affected by flowering time, each plant species has developed optimum strategies for its flowering time regulation and the structuring of its flowers. The shoot apical meristem of higher plants embodies a population of undifferentiated cells that gives rise to both vegetative and reproductive structures. Leaves and axillary meristems emerge from the flanks of the shoot apex during vegetative growth, and inflorescences and flowers are formed during reproductive growth. Recently, molecular genetic approaches, mainly using annual dicots like Arabidopsis and Antirrhinum, have revealed a number of genes involved in the control of inflorescence and floral meristem initiation and flower development. In Arabidopsis, the cooperative activity of the floral meristem identity genes, LEAFY, APETALA1 (AP1), and CAULIFLOWER, assigns a floral f
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