Seedlings Hyper-Responsive to Light (SHL1 & SHL2): A New Class of Arabidopsis Genes at the Interface of Environment and Development

由于植物是不能动的，它们通过改变发育和生理来适应环境。由于植物进行光合作用，光是影响植物发育几乎所有方面的关键因素，包括种子发芽、植物结构和开花时间。植物对光的发育反应的遗传机制尚不清楚。我们已经分离出一组拟南芥突变体，这些突变体对红光、远红光和蓝光有夸张的发育反应。这些突变体可能在光信号转导通路的元件上有缺陷。遗传图谱将用于确定拟南芥基因组中两个突变的位置，这些信息将用于克隆和表征相应的野生型基因。将进行详细的遗传、分子和生化分析，以确定克隆基因的具体功能，并确定它们在光信号传导中所起的作用。这项工作具有重要意义，因为它将提供对植物利用遗传和分子机制来调节其发育以响应环境的见解。

Because plants are immobile, they adapt to their environment by alteration of their development and physiology. Since plants are photosynthetic, light is a critical factor that influences nearly every aspect of plant development, including seed germination, plant structure, and the timing of flowering. The genetic mechanisms that underlie plant developmental responses to the light are poorly defined. We have isolated a set of arabidopsis mutants that have exaggerated developmental responses to red, far-red and blue light. These mutants may be defective in elements of the light signal transduction pathway. Genetic mapping will be used to define the location of two of these mutations in the arabidopsis genome, and this information will be used to clone and characterize the corresponding wild-type genes. Detailed genetic, molecular and biochemical analysis will be carried out in order to identify the specific functions of the cloned genes, and to determine the roles they play in light signaling. This work is significant in that it will provide insights into the genetic and molecular mechanisms plants use to modulate their development in response to the environment.