Identification and molecular characterisation of genes involved in the perennial life cycle

在驯化过程中，定向选择倾向于产量高、生命周期短的植株。因此，如今大多数栽培作物是一年生作物，尽管它们的野生型祖先是多年生植物。一年生作物的种植对环境有负面影响，并且仅限于具有最佳生长条件的地区。因此，新的育种工作的目标是发展多年生作物。本项目以阿拉比斯（Arabis alpina）为模型，研究阿拉比斯（Arabis alpina）开花和多年生性状调控的分子机制。以前，在a . alpina的正向遗传学方法导致鉴定基因调控开花和贡献多年生生长习惯。在第一阶段，我提出筛选永久开花1 （pep1）突变体的诱变群体，并寻找影响开花时间和对营养发育具有多效性影响的二位点突变体。本研究表明，aptala2的同源基因AaAP2通过春化依赖和不依赖的途径调控开花。AP2在拟南芥春化中的作用以前没有报道过。在第二阶段，我建议扩展对AaAP2的研究，利用转录组分析和染色质免疫沉淀来确定其靶点。在第一阶段，我还发现了三个突变体，与pep1相比，它们加速开花，并对花序发育具有多效性。在第二阶段，我想分离和表征负责这些突变表型的基因。与一年生植物相比，许多温带多年生植物的花序发育时间有所不同，因此鉴定这些基因可能有助于了解这一过程。a . alpina是芸苔科的一员。因此，了解开花和多年生性状的分子调控机制，可以直接应用于多年生芸苔属作物的开发，并有助于了解分化多年生植物多年生发育的调控原理。

During the process of domestication directional selection favored plants with higher yield and shorter life cycle. Thus nowadays, most cultivated crops are annuals although their wild type ancestors are perennials. Cultivation of annual crops has negative impact on the environment and is limited to regions with optimal growth conditions. Thus new breeding efforts are aiming on the development of perennial crops. This project uses Arabis alpina as a model to study the molecular mechanisms that regulate flowering and perennial traits. Previously, a forward genetics approach in A. alpina resulted in the identification of genes that regulate flowering and contribute to the perennial growth habit. In the first phase I proposed to screen a mutagenised population of the perpetual flowering 1 (pep1) mutant and look for second-site mutants that affect flowering time and have pleiotropic effects on vegetative development. This study demonstrated that the A. alpina orthologue of APETALA2 (AaAP2) in A. alpina regulates flowering though a vernalisation -dependent and -independent pathway. The role of AP2 in vernalisation has not been previously reported in Arabidopsis thaliana. In the second phase I suggest to extend the study on AaAP2 and identify its targets using transcriptome profiling and Chromatin Immunoprecipitation. In the first phase I also identified three mutants that accelerate flowering compared to pep1 and have pleiotropic effects on inflorescence development. In the second phase I would like to isolate and characterise the genes responsible for these mutant phenotypes. The timing of inflorescence development in many temperate perennials differs compared to annuals and therefore identification of these genes might give insights on this process. A. alpina is a member of the Brassicaceae family. Therefore, understanding of the molecular mechanisms regulating flowering and perennial traits can be directly applied to the development of perennial Brassica crops and generate knowledge about the principles regulating perennialism in diverged perennials.