RESUMO
In seasonal flowering, plants need to monitor environmental variables. A combination of photoreceptors and the circadian clock initiate signals that regulate a network of genes in the leaf vascular system which communicates through mobile FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT) proteins, with the shoot apical meristem (SAM). At the SAM, a second network of genes is turned on specifically in certain cell domains, established by a second mobile protein, TERMINAL FLOWER 1 (TFL1), to ensure that flowering signals are translated into floral meristems at the flanks of the SAM but without compromising the nature of the SAM itself. Here, we provide an update on recent findings about the integration of light signals upstream of FT and tissue-specific events that occur in the SAM to balance flower production with SAM endurance.
Assuntos
Proteínas de Arabidopsis , Arabidopsis , Arabidopsis/genética , Arabidopsis/metabolismo , Proteínas de Arabidopsis/metabolismo , Flores/genética , Flores/metabolismo , Regulação da Expressão Gênica de Plantas , Meristema/genética , Meristema/metabolismo , Fotoperíodo , Folhas de Planta/metabolismoRESUMO
Long days (LD) promote flowering of Arabidopsis thaliana compared with short days (SD) by activating the photoperiodic pathway. Here we show that growth under very-SD (3â h) or darkness (on sucrose) also accelerates flowering on a biological scale, indicating that SD actively repress flowering compared with very-SD. CONSTANS (CO) repressed flowering under SD, and the early flowering of co under SD required FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT). FT was expressed at a basal level in the leaves under SD, but these levels were not enhanced in co. This indicates that the action of CO in A. thaliana is not the mirror image of the action of its homologue in rice. In the apex, CO enhanced the expression of TERMINAL FLOWER 1 (TFL1) around the time when FT expression is important to promote flowering. Under SD, the tfl1 mutation was epistatic to co and in turn ft was epistatic to tfl1. These observations are consistent with the long-standing but not demonstrated model where CO can inhibit FT induction of flowering by affecting TFL1 expression.
Assuntos
Proteínas de Arabidopsis/metabolismo , Arabidopsis/genética , Proteínas de Ligação a DNA/metabolismo , Regulação da Expressão Gênica de Plantas , Fatores de Transcrição/metabolismo , Arabidopsis/fisiologia , Proteínas de Arabidopsis/genética , Proteínas de Ligação a DNA/genética , Flores/genética , Flores/fisiologia , Fotoperíodo , Fatores de Transcrição/genéticaRESUMO
The B-box domain is conserved in a large number of proteins involved in cell growth control, differentiation and transcriptional regulation among animal and plant species. In Arabidopsis thaliana, some works have found that B-box proteins (BBX) play central developmental functions in flowering, light and abiotic stress signaling. Despite the functional importance of this protein family, evolutionary and structural relationships of BBX proteins have not been extensively investigated in the plant kingdom. Using a phylogenetic approach, we conducted a comprehensive evolutionary analysis of the BBX protein family in twelve plant species (four green algae, one moss, one lycophyte, three monocots and three dicots). The analysis classified 214 BBX proteins into five structure groups, which evolved independently at early stages of green plant evolution. We showed that the B-box consensus sequences of each structure groups retained a common and conserved domain topology. Furthermore, we identified seven novel motifs specific to each structure group and a valine-proline (VP) pair conserved at the C-terminus domain in some BBX proteins suggesting that they are required for protein-protein interactions. As it has been documented in mammalian systems, we also found monopartite and bipartite amino acid sequences at the C-terminus domain that could function as nuclear localization signals (NLSs). The five BBX structure groups evolved constrained by the conservation of amino acid sequences in the two B-boxes, but radiating variation into NLSs and novel motifs of each structural group. We suggest that these features are the functional basis for the BBX protein diversity in green plants.
Assuntos
Proteínas de Plantas/genética , Proteínas de Plantas/metabolismo , Viridiplantae/genética , Viridiplantae/metabolismo , Motivos de Aminoácidos , Sequência de Aminoácidos , Sequência Conservada , Proteínas de Ligação a DNA/química , Proteínas de Ligação a DNA/genética , Proteínas de Ligação a DNA/metabolismo , Evolução Molecular , Dados de Sequência Molecular , Família Multigênica , Sinais de Localização Nuclear , Filogenia , Proteínas de Plantas/química , Matrizes de Pontuação de Posição Específica , Domínios e Motivos de Interação entre ProteínasRESUMO
Floral transition is one the most drastic changes occurring during the life cycle of a plant. The shoot apical meristem switches from the production of leaves with associated secondary shoot meristems to the production of flower meristems. This transition is abrupt and generally irreversible, suggesting it is regulated by a robust gene regulatory network capable of driving sharp transitions. The moment at which this transition occurs is precisely determined by environmental and endogenous signals. A large number of genes acting within these pathways have been cloned in model herbaceous plants such as Arabidopsis thaliana. In this paper, we report the results of our search in the Citrus expressed sequence tag (CitEST) database for expressed sequence tags (ESTs) showing sequence homology with known elements of flowering-time pathways. We have searched all sequence clusters in the CitEST database and identified more than one hundred Citrus spp sequences that codify putative conserved elements of the autonomous, vernalization, photoperiod response and gibberelic acid-controlled flowering-time pathways. Additionally, we have characterized in silico putative members of the Citrus spp homologs to the Arabidopsis CONSTANS family of transcription factors.