RUI: Molecular Mechanisms of Flower Reversion in Arabidopsis suecica

植物产生花来完成它们的生命周期和繁殖。花的发育需要植物茎尖的遗传和结构变化，因为植物从营养阶段过渡到生殖阶段。在此期间，基因表达模式也决定了花的整体排列，称为花序，成单个器官，不分枝或分枝簇，或成复合结构。在大多数但不是所有的植物物种中，生殖枝在花产生果实后终止生长。我们最近的研究的油料种子植物瑞典海芹（拟南芥suecica），一个物种，通常产生单花穗，表明在某些光照条件下，这种终止是逆转和多个复合花穗，而不是生产。该项目的中心目标是了解这种异常行为的遗传机制。利用分子技术，包括原位杂交，基因表达将在正常和异常花组织进行比较，以确定是否以及如何花发育基因的不同分布导致花结构的差异。所检验的假设是，基因表达的强度和基因产物（蛋白质）在发育中的花序内的分布是造成这些变化的原因。了解控制商业上重要的油料种子植物花序发育的遗传途径可以应用于提高种子产量的努力。例如，创造具有更有利花序结构的类型可能在生物燃料生产中有用。该项目将为本科生提供出色的培训机会。 该项目将由普吉湾大学牵头，这是一所以本科为主的大学，与华盛顿大学和传统大学合作，传统大学是华盛顿州中部的一所少数民族学院。

Plants produce flowers to complete their life cycle and to reproduce. Flower development requires genetic and structural changes in the tip of the plant shoot as the plant transitions from its vegetative to its reproductive stage. During this time, gene expression patterns also determine the overall arrangement of the flowers, called the inflorescence, into single organs, unbranched or branched clusters, or into compound structures. In most, but not all plant species, the reproductive branches terminate their growth after flowers have given rise to fruits. Our recent study of the oil seed plant Swedish thale-cress (Arabidopsis suecica), a species that normally produces single flower spikes, showed that under certain light conditions this termination is reversed and multiple compound flower spikes are instead produced. The central aim of this project is to understand the genetic mechanisms for this abnormal behavior. Using molecular techniques, including in situ hybridization, gene expression will be compared in normal and abnormal floral tissues, to determine if and how the different distribution of flower development genes leads to the differences in floral architecture. The hypothesis tested is that both strength of gene expression and the distribution of the gene products (the proteins) within the developing inflorescence are responsible for these changes. Understanding the genetic pathways controlling inflorescence development in commercially important oil seed plants could be applied to efforts to enhance seed yield. Creating types with more favorable inflorescence architectures might be useful in biofuel production, for example.This project will provide outstanding training opportunities for undergraduate students. The project will be led by the University of Puget Sound, a primarily undergraduate institution, in collaboration with the University of Washington, and Heritage University, a minority-serving college in central Washington state.