FDP a novel regulator of primordia fate

当植物生长时，它们在生长的顶端产生一团团细胞，称为原基。植物的所有地上部分最终都来源于这些原基。大多数植物在开始开花之前，首先是植物性生长，形成茎和叶。在实验室里，我们研究了一种叫做拟南芥的小植物的发育。虽然它只是一种杂草，但拟南芥对科学家来说有很多优势，我们相信我们对拟南芥的了解将与许多其他植物有关。当拟南芥生长时，最初产生的15个左右的原基是营养的，也就是说，它们制造叶子。在这段时间之后，如果条件合适，植物将开花而不是叶子。这个决定是非常重要的，并受到许多因素的控制。我们想更清楚地了解植物从长叶到开花的转变是如何进行的。我们已经发现了一个突变体fdp-1，它的开关被破坏了，结果植物比正常时间提前开花。事实上，在fdp-1突变体中，许多基因在不应该出现的地方和时间表达。因此，这个基因代表了一个令人兴奋的工具，可以从分子角度理解植物如何控制原始基从生叶到开花的转换。我们将结合不同的方法来理解这个问题。我们希望发现其他哪些基因受到FDP的影响。我们将使用微阵列来实现这一点。我们还希望发现FDP信号传导的机制，它是直接的，还是通过阻遏物起作用？最后，我们希望进行基因筛查，以确定其他相关基因。

When plants grow they produce clumps of cells, called primordia, at their growing tips. All the above ground parts of the plant are ultimately derived from these primordia. Most plants grow vegetatively first, making stems and leaves, before initiating flowering. In the laboratory we study the development of a small plant called Arabidopsis. Although it is just a weed, Arabidopsis has many advantages for scientists to work on it, and we believe that what we learn about Arabidopsis will be relevant to many other plants. When arabidopsis grows, the first 15 or so primordia that are initiated are vegetative, that is they make leaves. After this time, if the conditions are right, the plant will make flowers instead of leaves. This developmental decision to make leaves or flowers is very important, and controlled by many factors. We want to understand more clearly how the switch from making leaves to making flowers works in plants. We have identified a mutant, fdp-1, where the switch is damaged, and as a result the plants make flowers much earlier than they should. Indeed, in the fdp-1 mutant, many genes are expressed where and when they shouldn't be. This gene therefore represents an exciting tool to understand in molecular terms aspects of how plants control the switch from making leaves to flowers in the primodia. We shall use a combination of different approaches to understand this problem. We wish to discover what other genes are affected by FDP. We will do this using microarrays. We also wish to discover the mechanism of FDP signaling, is it direct, or does it act through a repressor? Finally, we wish to do genetic screens to identify other genes involved.