AGL17-like基因对矮牵牛开花的调控功能与机制研究

矮牵牛是观赏植物众多重要性状遗传调控机理研究的理想材料。多年来，关于矮牵牛花色、花香、花发育等性状的遗传研究较为深入，但对其开花时间的研究很少，调控机制尚不清楚，且根据我们的研究推测，矮牵牛的成花调控网络及其调控基因可能与拟南芥存在极大差异。申请人利用转基因技术获得了完全不开花的矮牵牛，为研究其开花调控机制提供了理想材料。本项目以此材料为基础，对矮牵牛不开花转基因植株与野生型植株的叶片和顶芽进行了转录组测序，筛选并确定AGL17-like基因（PhAGL17）可能对矮牵牛的开花时间调控起着关键作用。本项目一方面通过表达分析、超量表达、基因敲除等方法明确PhAGL17的生物学功能；另一方面通过酵母双杂文库构建、筛库和BiFC等技术钓取并验证与PhAGL17互作的蛋白；最后通过转基因植株转录组测序和ChIP-seq等方法挖掘其下游调控基因。本项目的实施，能为矮牵牛开花时间调控机制增添新的认识。

Petunia is an ideal plant for molecular biology researches in ornamental plants. Over the years, lots of studies have focused on the flower colours, fragrances and development of petunia, but the regulation mechanism of the flowering time is still unclear. Based on the studies previously, we speculated that the network of flowering regulation had significant differences between petunia and Arabidopsis. We obtained non-flowering petunia plants established by overexpression of PlacTFL1a gene in petunia, which provided ideal materials for flowering regulatory mechanism researches of petunia. On the basis of the materials, digital gene expression profiles of leaves and apical buds in non-flowering petunia and W115 were performed and identified differential expressed genes (DEGS). AGL17-like (PhAGL17) gene was screened as the key flowering time regulatory genes of petunia. On the one hand, expression pattern analysis, constitutive expression and gene knock out will be performed to verify the biological function of PhAGL17 gene. On the other hand, the interactive proteins of PhAGL17 will be investigated by yeast two-hybrid screening and verified by BiFC. Finally, we used transcriptome sequencing and ChIP-seq to clarify the downstream regulatory genes of PhAGL17. The results of this project will add new understanding on regulatory mechanisms of petunia flowering.