Analysis of the Molecular Basis of Flowering Time Variation in Arabidopsis Accessions1[w]

Allelic variation at the FRI (FRIGIDA) and FLC (FLOWERING LOCUS C) loci are major determinants of flowering time in Arabidopsis accessions. Dominant alleles of FRI confer a vernalization requirement causing plants to overwinter vegetatively. Many early flowering accessions carry loss-of-function fri alleles containing one of two deletions. However, some accessions categorized as early flowering types do not carry these deletion alleles. We have analyzed the molecular basis of earliness in five of these accessions: Cvi, Shakhdara, Wil-2, Kondara, and Kz-9. The Cvi FRI allele carries a number of nucleotide differences, one of which causes an in-frame stop codon in the first exon. The other four accessions contain nucleotide differences that only result in amino acid substitutions. Preliminary genetic analysis was consistent with Cvi carrying a nonfunctional FRI allele; Wil-2 carrying either a defective FRI or a dominant suppressor of FRI function; and Shakhdara, Kondara, and Kz-9 carrying a functional FRI allele with earliness being caused by allelic variation at other loci including FLC. Allelic variation at FLC was also investigated in a range of accessions. A novel nonautonomous Mutator-like transposon was found in the weak FLC allele in Landsberg erecta, positioned in the first intron, a region required for normal FLC regulation. This transposon was not present in FLC alleles of most other accessions including Shakhdara, Kondara, or Kz-9. Thus, variation in Arabidopsis flowering time has arisen through the generation of nonfunctional or weak FRI and FLC alleles.

[1]  James K. M. Brown,et al.  QTL analysis of flowering time inArabidopsis thaliana , 1995, Molecular and General Genetics MGG.

[2]  W. Peacock,et al.  Genes conferring late flowering inArabidopsis thaliana , 1993, Genetica.

[3]  Ritsert C. Jansen,et al.  Genotype-by-environment interaction in genetic mapping of multiple quantitative trait loci , 1995, Theoretical and Applied Genetics.

[4]  S. Bird,et al.  The NADH dehydrogenase subunit 7 gene is interrupted by four group II introns in the wheat mitochondrial genome , 1994, Molecular and General Genetics MGG.

[5]  R. Amasino,et al.  Analysis of naturally occurring late flowering in Arabidopsis thaliana , 1993, Molecular and General Genetics MGG.

[6]  K. Napp-Zinn.  Untersuchungen Zur Genetik Des Kältebedürfnisses Bei Arabidopsis Thaliana , 1957, Zeitschrift für induktive Abstammungs- und Vererbungslehre.

[7]  C. Dean,et al.  Mapping FRI, a locus controlling flowering time and vernalization response in Arabidopsis thaliana , 2004, Molecular and General Genetics MGG.

[8]  T. Mizuno,et al.  Autoregulatory expression of the Escherichia coli hns gene encoding a nucleoid protein: H-NS functions as a repressor of its own transcription , 2004, Molecular and General Genetics MGG.

[9]  W. Peacock,et al.  Different Regulatory Regions Are Required for the Vernalization-Induced Repression of FLOWERING LOCUS C and for the Epigenetic Maintenance of Repression Article, publication date, and citation information can be found at www.plantcell.org/cgi/doi/10.1105/tpc.004564. , 2002, The Plant Cell Online.

[10]  S. van Nocker,et al.  The VERNALIZATION INDEPENDENCE 4 gene encodes a novel regulator of FLOWERING LOCUS C. , 2002, The Plant journal : for cell and molecular biology.

[11]  X. Reboud,et al.  DNA polymorphism at the FRIGIDA gene in Arabidopsis thaliana: extensive nonsynonymous variation is consistent with local selection for flowering time. , 2002, Molecular biology and evolution.

[12]  M. Nordborg,et al.  Sequence variation and haplotype structure surrounding the flowering time locus FRI in Arabidopsis thaliana. , 2002, Genetics.

[13]  C. Dean,et al.  Arabidopsis, the Rosetta stone of flowering time? , 2002, Science.

[14]  O. Loudet,et al.  Bay-0 × Shahdara recombinant inbred line population: a powerful tool for the genetic dissection of complex traits in Arabidopsis , 2002, Theoretical and Applied Genetics.

[15]  A. Brice,et al.  A QTL for flowering time in Arabidopsis reveals a novel allele of CRY2 , 2002, Nature Genetics.

[16]  A. Peeters,et al.  A QTL for flowering time in Arabidopsis reveals a novel allele of CRY2 , 2001, Nature Genetics.

[17]  M. Schläppi.  RNA Levels and Activity of FLOWERING LOCUS C Are Modified in Mixed Genetic Backgrounds of Arabidopsis thaliana , 2001, International Journal of Plant Sciences.

[18]  R. Amasino,et al.  Loss of FLOWERING LOCUS C Activity Eliminates the Late-Flowering Phenotype of FRIGIDA and Autonomous Pathway Mutations but Not Responsiveness to Vernalization , 2001, Plant Cell.

[19]  M. Ishitani,et al.  The Arabidopsis HOS1 gene negatively regulates cold signal transduction and encodes a RING finger protein that displays cold-regulated nucleo--cytoplasmic partitioning. , 2001, Genes & development.

[20]  R. Martienssen,et al.  Robertson's Mutator transposons in A. thaliana are regulated by the chromatin-remodeling gene Decrease in DNA Methylation (DDM1). , 2001, Genes & development.

[21]  S. Wright,et al.  Mutator-like elements in Arabidopsis thaliana. Structure, diversity and evolution. , 2000, Genetics.

[22]  R. Amasino,et al.  Molecular analysis of FRIGIDA, a major determinant of natural variation in Arabidopsis flowering time. , 2000, Science.

[23]  E. Finnegan,et al.  The molecular basis of vernalization: The central role of FLOWERING LOCUS C (FLC) , 2000 .

[24]  E. Finnegan,et al.  The molecular basis of vernalization: the central role of FLOWERING LOCUS C (FLC). , 2000, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[25]  R. Amasino,et al.  FLOWERING LOCUS C Encodes a Novel MADS Domain Protein That Acts as a Repressor of Flowering , 1999, Plant Cell.

[26]  M. Nordborg,et al.  The effect of seed and rosette cold treatment on germination and flowering time in some Arabidopsis thaliana (Brassicaceae) ecotypes. , 1999, American journal of botany.

[27]  W. Peacock,et al.  The FLF MADS Box Gene: A Repressor of Flowering in Arabidopsis Regulated by Vernalization and Methylation , 1999, Plant Cell.

[28]  G. Coupland,et al.  Analysis of natural allelic variation at flowering time loci in the Landsberg erecta and Cape Verde Islands ecotypes of Arabidopsis thaliana. , 1998, Genetics.

[29]  Thomas L. Madden,et al.  Gapped BLAST and PSI-BLAST: a new generation of protein database search programs. , 1997, Nucleic acids research.

[30]  A. Bleecker,et al.  An altered body plan is conferred on Arabidopsis plants carrying dominant alleles of two genes. , 1996, Development.

[31]  R. Amasino,et al.  Ecotype-Specific Expression of a Flowering Mutant Phenotype in Arabidopsis thaliana , 1996, Plant physiology.

[32]  T. Mitchell-Olds.  GENETIC CONSTRAINTS ON LIFE‐HISTORY EVOLUTION: QUANTITATIVE‐TRAIT LOCI INFLUENCING GROWTH AND FLOWERING IN ARABIDOPSIS THALIANA , 1996, Evolution; international journal of organic evolution.

[33]  M. Koornneef,et al.  The phenotype of some late-flowering mutants is enhanced by a locus on chromosome 5 that is not effective in the Landsberg erecta wild-type , 1994 .

[34]  R. Amasino,et al.  The late-flowering phenotype of FRIGIDA and mutations in LUMINIDEPENDENS is suppressed in the Landsberg erecta strain of Arabidopsis , 1994 .

[35]  B. Karlsson,et al.  Effects of photoperiod and vernalization on the number of leaves at flowering in 32 Arabidopsis thaliana (Brassicaceae) ecotypes , 1993 .

[36]  C. Silflow,et al.  The small genome of Arabidopsis contains at least nine expressed beta-tubulin genes. , 1992, The Plant cell.

[37]  C. Silflow,et al.  The small genome of Arabidopsis contains at least nine expressed beta-tubulin genes. , 1992, The Plant cell.

[38]  S. Wessler,et al.  The Effects of Plant Transposable Element Insertion on Transcription Initiation and RNA Processing , 1990 .

[39]  E. M. Meyerowitz,et al.  Arabidopsis thaliana , 2022, CABI Compendium.