Role of the UGF protein family during plant development

在胚胎后发育期间，植物经历了几个戏剧性的阶段变化。一个很好的例子是从营养生长到开花的转变。在这个过程中，嫩枝顶端分生组织改变了命运，开始产生花朵而不是叶子。我们已经通过表达谱在全球范围内研究了这一过程。我们已经确定了一个小的、植物特有的基因家族，现在被称为UGF，它由拟南芥中的四个成员组成。UGF基因对光周期的变化有很高的反应能力。我们将详细研究UGF基因如何对分生组织鉴定和开花诱导做出贡献。为此，我们将分析UGF基因的表达和基因产物的亚细胞定位。我们将进一步创建和分析所有四个UGF基因的功能丧失和功能获得等位基因。我们还将对UGF基因的转录调控进行详细的分析。最后，我们将确定物理上与UGF蛋白相互作用的蛋白质。我们将分析这些蛋白质的作用。最后，我们希望将UGF基因和相互作用的蛋白整合到分生组织维持和花转换的网络中。

During postembryonic development plants undergo several dramatic phase changes. A good example is the switch from vegetative growth to flowering. During this event, the shoot apical meristem switches fate and starts producing flowers instead of leaves. We have studied this process on a global scale by expression profiling. We have identified a small, plant specific gene family, now called UGF, which is comprised of four members in Arabidopsis. The UGF genes are highly responsive to changes in photoperiod. We will study in detail how the UGF genes contribute to meristem identity and floral induction. To that end we will analyse the expression of the UGF genes and subcellular localization of the gene products. We will further create and analyse 'loss-of-function' and 'gain-of-function' alleles for all four UGF genes. We will also carry out a detailed analysis of the transcriptional regulation of the UGF genes. Finally, we will identify proteins that physically interact with the UGF proteins. The role of these proteins will be analysed. In the end we hope to integrate the UGF genes and interacting proteins in the network of meristem maintenance and floral transition.