Natural variation in vernalization response of Arabidopsis accessions

迪恩实验室正在研究开花的分子控制。我们使用拟南芥的优良遗传系统，因为它很容易克隆基因控制许多过程的基础上，只有一个突变（在基因的病变）。我们已经集中在为什么和如何延长寒冷影响开花，一个过程称为春化。在自然界中，植物在冬季经历长时间的寒冷，许多植物在经历这种长时间的寒冷之前不会开花。这是一种适应，以确保在春季开花时，条件有利于最大的花卉生产和种子。许多控制这一过程的基因现在已经被克隆，因此在本研究中，我们希望研究拟南芥在适应不同气候条件的过程中它们的功能是如何变化的。我们正在研究从一系列纬度延伸到北极圈边缘的拟南芥种质。这些植物需要更长时间的寒冷来加速开花，而不是从英国收集的植物。我们在这些不同的植物之间进行了杂交，并分析了它们后代的开花和春化反应。这说明春化作用的自然变异是4-5个基因等位变异的结果。我们现在想确定这些基因是什么，了解发生了什么变化以及这些变化如何影响开花行为。通过与种群和生态遗传学专家的合作，我们还想确定这些变化是否已经在世界范围内的拟南芥种群中传播，并了解这些变化在不同的环境条件下给植物带来了多大的优势。

The Dean laboratory is investigating the molecular control of flowering. We use the excellent genetic system of Arabidopsis thaliana as it is easy to clone genes controlling many processes based only on having a mutation (a lesion in the gene). We have focused on why and how prolonged cold influences flowering, a process called vernalization. In nature, plants experience prolonged cold during winter and many plants do not flower until they have experienced this prolonged cold. This is an adaptation to ensure flowering in spring when conditions are favourable for maximal flower production and seed set. Many genes controlling this process have now been cloned so in this proposal we want to investigate how their function has changed during adaptation of Arabidopsis to different climates. We are working with Arabidopsis accessions collected from a range of latitudes that extend up to the edge of the Arctic Circle. These plants need much longer periods of cold to accelerate flowering than ones collected from the UK. We have made crosses between these different plants and have analysed the flowering and vernalization response of their progeny. This has indicated that the natural variation in vernalization is the result of allelic variation of 4-5 genes. We now want to identify which genes these are, understand what changes have occurred and how those affect the flowering behaviour. In collaboration with experts in population and ecological genetics, we also want to determine if those changes have spread in the worldwide Arabidopsis population and understand how much advantage those changes confer to the plants in the different environmental conditions.