Arabidopsis 2010: Gene Identification in the Photoperiod and Circadian Network of Flowering Control

开花的开始是植物生命周期中一个关键的发育决定。许多植物物种在适当的季节开始开花的一个共同的环境线索是日长（光周期）的变化。光周期的感知依赖于生物钟。过去二十年的遗传学研究表明，基因组的一个重要部分参与开花时间控制。我们的项目目标是筛选我们为在非诱导光周期中早花的突变体创建的T-DNA插入系的集合。 这些突变体将确定一组基因参与生物功能的日长感知和昼夜节律网络。 我们的初步结果表明，这些基因中的许多将是植物基因组所特有的（即，在动物或真菌中没有明显的同源物），并且大规模正向遗传筛选是鉴定这些植物特异性基因的最有效方法。这一领域的研究为发现新的植物基因和基因家族提供了很大的希望，从长远来看，将有助于在分子水平上理解生物钟和光周期感知之间的密切联系。鉴于开花时间在作物生产力中的核心作用，我们的工作也可能提供策略来操纵开花以提高作物产量。 关于我们表征的突变体的表型、图谱位置和基因身份的当前信息将在http://www.biochem.wisc.edu/2010flowering/上获得 (this网站将在2002年12月提供），我们将通知拟南芥信息资源（TAIR）（http：//www.arabidopsis.org/home.html）基因的身份，以便他们可以更新他们的注释。 所有突变体将保藏在俄亥俄州州立大学拟南芥属储备中心（http：//www.biosci.ohiostate.edu/plantbio/Facilities/abrc/ABRCHOME.HTM）。

0209786AmasinoThe initiation of flowering is a critical developmental decision in the plant life cycle. A common environmental cue used by many plant species to initiate flowering during the proper season is the change of day-length (photoperiod). The perception of photoperiod relies upon the circadian clock. Genetical studies over the past two decades indicate that a significant fraction of the genome is involved in flowering-time control. Our project goal is to screen the collections of T-DNA insertion lines we have created for mutants that are early flowering in non-inductive photoperiods. These mutants will identify a set of genes involved in the biological function of daylength perception and the circadian rhythm network. Our preliminary results indicate that many of these genes will be unique to the plant genome (i.e., no obvious homologs in animals or fungi) and that large-scale forward genetic screens are the most efficient way to identify these plant-specific genes. This area of research holds much promise for the discovery of novel plant genes and gene families, and in the long term will contribute to understanding the intimate link between the circadian clock and photoperiod perception at a molecular level. Given the central role of the timing of flowering in crop productivity, our work may also provide strategies to manipulate flowering to enhance crop yields. Current information on the phenotypes, map location and gene identities of the mutants that we characterize will be available at http://www.biochem.wisc.edu/2010flowering/ (this site will be available in December 2002) and we will notify The Arabidopsis Information Resource (TAIR) (http://www.arabidopsis.org/home.html) of gene identities so that they can update their annotation. All mutants will be deposited with the Ohio State University Arabidopsis stock center (http://www.biosci.ohiostate.edu/~plantbio/Facilities/abrc/ABRCHOME.HTM).