Analysis of the Autonomous Floral Induction Pathway

研究人员：理查德·阿马西诺NSF奖摘要-#0446440自主成花诱导途径分析植物开花的开始是植物生活史中的主要发育开关。大多数主要作物是一年生植物(开花、结实、然后死亡的植物)，对于一年生植物来说，开花的时间尤其关键。该项目将重点研究控制拟南芥开花时间的机制。之所以选择拟南芥，是因为它具有在分子水平上理解开花的快速进展；尤其是，它是一种生活周期相对较快的小植物，其基因组的DNA序列是可用的。这些特征提供了一个模型系统，在其中将遗传研究与鉴定与开花相关的基因及其编码的蛋白质相结合。这项工作将为理解作物等其他物种的开花时间调控奠定基础。例如，在许多作物中，过早开花是一个问题，因为在这些作物中，植物的叶子或根都是收获的。在其他作物中，加速开花是可取的。这项工作可能会提供以理想的方式操纵开花时间的策略。该项目还将为研究生、本科生和K-12学生提供遗传学、生物化学和分子生物学方面的培训。

Investigator: Richard Amasino NSF Award Abstract - #0446440Analysis of the Autonomous Floral Induction PathwayThe initiation of flowering in plants is the major developmental switch in the plant life cycle. Most major crops are annual plants (plants that flower, set seed and then die), and for annuals the timing of flowering is particularly critical. This project will focus on investigating the mechanisms that control the timing of flowering in Arabidopsis thaliana. Arabidopsis was chosen because it has features that permit rapid progress to be made in understanding flowering at a molecular level; in particular, it is a small plant with a relatively rapid life cycle and the DNA sequence of its genome is available. These features provide a model system in which to combine genetic studies with the identification of the genes involved in flowering and the proteins they encode. This work will provide a foundation for understanding flowering-time regulation in other species such as crops. For example, premature flowering is a problem in many crops in which the leaves or roots of the plant are harvested. In other crops it is desirable to accelerate flowering. This work may provide strategies to manipulate flowering time in desirable ways. This project will also provide training in genetics, biochemistry and molecular biology for graduate, undergraduate and K-12 students.