FDP a novel regulator of primordia fate

当植物生长时，它们在生长的顶端产生被称为原基的细胞团。植物的所有地上部分最终都是从这些原基衍生而来的。大多数植物首先营养生长，形成茎和叶，然后才开始开花。在实验室里，我们研究了一种名为拟南芥的小植物的发育。虽然它只是一种杂草，但拟南芥具有许多优势，便于科学家对其进行研究，我们相信我们所了解的关于拟南芥的知识将与许多其他植物相关。当拟南芥生长时，最初启动的15个左右的原基是营养的，也就是说，它们形成了叶子。在这段时间之后，如果条件合适，植物将形成花朵而不是叶子。制造叶子或花朵的发育决定是非常重要的，并受许多因素控制。我们想更清楚地了解从造叶子到造花的转变是如何在植物中发挥作用的。我们已经确定了一个突变体FDP-1，其中开关被破坏，因此植物比正常情况下更早开花。事实上，在FDP-1突变体中，许多基因在不应该出现的地方和时间表达。因此，这个基因代表了一种令人兴奋的工具，可以从分子上理解植物如何控制从原基体生叶到开花的开关。我们将结合使用不同的方法来理解这个问题。我们希望发现还有哪些基因受到FDP的影响。我们将使用微阵列来实现这一点。我们还希望发现FDP信号的机制，它是直接的，还是通过抑制物起作用？最后，我们希望进行基因筛查，以确定其他相关基因。

When plants grow they produce clumps of cells, called primordia, at their growing tips. All the above ground parts of the plant are ultimately derived from these primordia. Most plants grow vegetatively first, making stems and leaves, before initiating flowering. In the laboratory we study the development of a small plant called Arabidopsis. Although it is just a weed, Arabidopsis has many advantages for scientists to work on it, and we believe that what we learn about Arabidopsis will be relevant to many other plants. When arabidopsis grows, the first 15 or so primordia that are initiated are vegetative, that is they make leaves. After this time, if the conditions are right, the plant will make flowers instead of leaves. This developmental decision to make leaves or flowers is very important, and controlled by many factors. We want to understand more clearly how the switch from making leaves to making flowers works in plants. We have identified a mutant, fdp-1, where the switch is damaged, and as a result the plants make flowers much earlier than they should. Indeed, in the fdp-1 mutant, many genes are expressed where and when they shouldn't be. This gene therefore represents an exciting tool to understand in molecular terms aspects of how plants control the switch from making leaves to flowers in the primodia. We shall use a combination of different approaches to understand this problem. We wish to discover what other genes are affected by FDP. We will do this using microarrays. We also wish to discover the mechanism of FDP signaling, is it direct, or does it act through a repressor? Finally, we wish to do genetic screens to identify other genes involved.