AG Function and Interacting Genes

MaFlower发育是一个复杂的过程，并提供了一个很好的实验系统来研究细胞调控过程。 拟南芥AGAMOUS（AG）基因是拟南芥花发育的重要调控基因。 然而，AG功能的时间要求仍然未知。 此外，AG基因编码的AG蛋白是一组被认为控制其他基因表达的相关蛋白质的成员。 但是AG调节的基因还不清楚，这个建议利用了一个植物系统，该系统携带一个修饰的AG基因，其功能可以在AG蛋白合成后启动。 这里建议使用该系统来确定控制花发育的AG功能的时间要求。此外，该系统将用于分离由AG直接或间接调控的靶基因。已经产生了富集AG调节基因的基因集合。 初步的序列分析表明，大约一半的基因与其他人发现的已知基因不相似，其余的基因与已知基因相似，但除了DNA序列外，其他人还没有描述过。 这些推测的AG调控基因将被进一步研究，以确认和了解它们的表达模式。 本研究将利用分子遗传学方法对几个代表性基因进行鉴定，以了解它们在花发育中的作用，这些研究将为花发育的控制提供新的见解，特别是一个特定的基因如何调控其他基因，从而影响发育过程中的细胞特性。 此外，这些实验的结果也应该增加我们对基因调控和发育的一般知识。

0077832 MaFlower development is a complex process and provides an excellent experimental system to study cellular regulatory processes. The AGAMOUS (AG) gene of the small weed Arabidopsis is an important regulator of flower development. However, the temporal requirement of AG function is still not known. In addition, the AG protein encoded by the AG gene is a member of a group of related proteins that are thought to control the expression of other genes. But the genes that are regulated by AG are not yet known.This proposal takes advantage of a plant system that carries a modified AG gene whose function can switched on after the AG protein has been synthesized. It is proposed here to use this system to determine the temporal requirement of AG function for the control of flower development. Furthermore, this system will be used to isolate target genes that are regulated by AG either directly or indirectly. A collection of genes has been generated that is enriched for AG-regulated genes. Preliminary sequence analysis indicates that about of half of the genes are not similar to known genes discovered by others, and the remainder are similar to known genes, but have not been described by others except as DNA sequences. The putative AG-regulated genes will be further studied to confirm and understand their expression patterns. A few selected representative genes will be characterized using molecular genetic methods to learn about their role in flower development.These studies will provide new insights about the control of flower development, particularly how a specific gene can regulate other genes, thereby influence cellular properties during development. Moreover, the results from these experiments should also increase our knowledge about gene regulation and development in general.