GENETIC/MOLECULAR CONTROL OF ARABIDOPSIS FLOWER DEVELOPMENT

对控制花的细胞和分子过程知之甚少 植物的发育和繁殖。 在过去几年中 模式植物拟南芥的遗传和分子研究 thaliana已经定义了控制花的基因等级 发展 同源异型基因APETALA2（AP2）已被证明发挥作用， 在调节花分生组织的产生和 控制花器官的特性。 然而， AP2未知。 最近，我们克隆了AP2基因，并表明它 编码一种新的蛋白质，其特点是AP2结构域，一个68个氨基酸 重复的基序是AP2活性所必需的。 目前我们的 研究工作的重点是了解AP2的功能， 植物细胞 此外，我们最近取得了重大进展， 描述了一种新发现的植物生长 赤霉酸调节剂和拟南芥突变体表型 花同源异型突变体apetala2，apetala1，多叶和无花受精。 在今后四年中，我们计划解决以下问题： 1)AP2和AP2样蛋白在肿瘤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共同决定花器官的身份？ 3)是什么 赤霉素与成花调控的关系 拟南芥同源异型基因表达 任何一个问题 为MBRS研究生论文做一个好的论文项目。 几 更多明确的遗传和分子项目将被给予 本科生，例如，突变体ap2的克隆和分离 基因，克隆的AP2样基因的RFLP图谱，以及结构 利用光和扫描电子分析花同源异型突变体 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.