GENETIC/MOLECULAR CONTROL OF ARABIDOPSIS FLOWER DEVELOPMENT

对控制花朵的细胞和分子过程知之甚少 植物的发育和繁殖。在过去几年里 模式植物系统拟南芥的遗传和分子研究 塔利亚纳定义了控制花朵的基因层级 发展。同源异型基因APETALA2(AP2)已被证明在 在调节花分生组织的生产中的中心作用 控制花器官的特性。然而，它的分子功能 AP2未知。最近，我们克隆了AP2基因，并证明了它是 编码一种新的蛋白质，以AP2结构域为特征，由68个氨基酸组成 对AP2活性至关重要的重复基序。目前我们的 研究工作的重点是了解AP2在细胞内的功能。 植物细胞。此外，我们最近在以下方面取得了重大进展 描述了一种新发现的植物生长之间的关系 调节剂赤霉酸与拟南芥的突变体表型 花的同源异体突变体无花瓣2，无花瓣1，多叶和无性生殖。 在未来四年，我们计划解决以下问题： 1)AP2和AP2样蛋白在细胞周期中的分子功能是什么？ 植物细胞？2)什么是辅助因子、靶基因和调节因子？ AP2共同决定花器官的特性？3)什么是 赤霉酸与植物开花调控的关系 拟南芥中同源异型基因的表达？这些问题中的任何一个都会 为一篇MBRS研究生论文做一个好的论文项目。几个 更多明确的基因和分子项目将提供给 本科生，如突变型ap2的克隆和分离 基因、克隆的AP2类基因的RFLP定位和结构 花卉同源异型突变体的光电子分析 显微镜。

Little is known about the cell and molecule processes that control flower development and reproduction in plants. Over the past several years genetic and molecular studies in the model plant system Arabidopsis thaliana have defined a hierarchy of genes that control flower development. The homeotic gene APETALA2 (AP2) has been shown to play a central role in regulating the production of the floral meristem and in controlling floral organ identity. However, the molecular function of AP2 is not known. Recently, we cloned the AP2 gene and showed that it encodes a novel protein distinguished by the AP2-domain, a 68 amino acid repeated motif that is essential for AP2 activity. Currently our research efforts are focused on understanding the function of AP2 in the plant cell. In addition, we recently made significant progress towards characterizing a newly discovered relationship between the plant growth regulator gibberellic acid and the mutant phenotypes of the Arabidopsis floral homeotic mutants apetala2, apetala1, leafy and agamous. During the next four years we plan to address the following questions: 1) What is the molecular function of AP2 and AP2-like proteins in the plant cell? 2) What are the cofactors, target genes, and regulators of AP2 that together determine floral organ identity? 3) What is the relationship between gibberellic acid and the regulation of floral homeotic gene expression in Arabidopsis? Any of these questions would make a good thesis project for an MBRS graduate student thesis. Several more defined genetic and molecular projects will be given to undergraduate students, e.g., the cloning and isolation of mutant ap2 genes, the RFLP mapping of cloned AP2-like genes, and the structural analysis of floral homeotic mutants using light and scanning electron microscopy.