title: Late-flowering genes interact with early-flowering genes to regulate flowering time in Arabidopsis thaliana.
abstract: To investigate the genetic mechanisms regulating the transition from the vegetative to reproductive growth in Arabidopsis, double mutants between three different early-flowering mutants, early flowering 1-1, 2-1, 3-1, (elf 1-1, 2-1, 3-1) and five different late-flowering mutants, gi-1, ft-1, fwa-1, ld-1, and fca-9, were constructed and phenotypes analyzed. Double mutants in all combinations displayed the late-flowering phenotypes which resembled their respective late-flowering parents in both flowering time and the number of vegetative leaves produced. The results indicate that five late-flowering mutants are epistatic to all three early-flowering mutants tested here. This epistatic relationship suggests that ELF1, ELF2, and ELF3 genes function upstream of these five late-flowering genes no matter if they are functioning in autonomous or photoperiod pathways. These three early-flowering genes may negatively modify the activity of most late-flowering genes to influence the time of the vegetative-to-reproductive transition in Arabidopsis.
authors.affiliation: Graduate Institute of Agricultural Biotechnology, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung, Taiwan, ROC.
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Chou
authors.forename: C H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Yang
mesh_terms: D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development*; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D017343:Genes, Plant; D009154:Mutation; D010641:Phenotype; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000254:growth & development; D013997:Time Factors