Functional characterisation of the APOSPORY-locus of Hypericum perforatum L.

配子体无融合生殖是没有减数分裂重组和减数分裂（无融合生殖：无孢子生殖或倍数孢子生殖）和没有受精（孤雌生殖）的种子形成。对无融合生殖的分子机制的研究是植物发育生物学的核心问题，也是植物育种的首要目标之一。贯叶连翘（Hypericum perforatum L.）是一种兼性无融合生殖，为无融合生殖研究提供了一个独特的新实验体系。我们已经分离和预先表征的基因组区域指定为快乐基因座（金丝桃APOSPORY）严格共分离与无孢子生殖，无融合生殖的一个组成部分。该基因座包括编码ARIADNE型RING指蛋白的基因，已知其参与调节过程，如泛素介导的蛋白质降解。无孢子生殖特异等位基因的编码区是畸变的，以单形出现。本研究结合BAC克隆、标记鉴定和遗传转化等分子技术，对贯叶金丝桃HAPPY基因进行了详细的结构和功能研究，并重建了该基因在金丝桃属其他无融合生殖和非无融合生殖物种中的进化历史。

Gametophytic apomixis is seed formation without meiotic recombination and reduction (apomeiosis: apospory or diplospory) and without fertilization (parthenogenesis). A molecular understanding of apomictic reproduction is an exiting central problem of plant developmental biology as well as a priority goal of plant breeding aiming at the fixation of hybrid effects. St. John´s wort (Hypericum perforatum L.) is a facultative apomict and represents an unique new experimental system for apomixis research. We have isolated and pre-characterised a genomic region designated as HAPPY locus (Hypericum APOSPORY) strictly co-segregating with apospory, a component of apomixis. The locus includes a gene which encodes a RING finger protein of the ARIADNE type, known to be involved in regulatory processes like the ubiquitin mediated protein degradation. The coding region of the apospory specific allele is distorted and occurs in simplex. Combining molecular techniques such as BAC cloning, marker identification and genetic transformation, the proposed project aims to a detailed structural and functional characterisation of the HAPPY locus in Hypericum peforatum and the reconstruction of the evolutionary history of this region in other apomictic and non-apomictic species in the genus Hypericum.