title: The wheat VRN2 gene is a flowering repressor down-regulated by vernalization.
abstract: Plants with a winter growth habit flower earlier when exposed for several weeks to cold temperatures, a process called vernalization. We report here the positional cloning of the wheat vernalization gene VRN2, a dominant repressor of flowering that is down-regulated by vernalization. Loss of function of VRN2, whether by natural mutations or deletions, resulted in spring lines, which do not require vernalization to flower. Reduction of the RNA level of VRN2 by RNA interference accelerated the flowering time of transgenic winter-wheat plants by more than a month.
authors.affiliation: Department of Agronomy and Range Science, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA.
authors.forename: Liuling
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.forename: Artem
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Loukoianov
authors.forename: Ann
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Blechl
authors.forename: Gabriela
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Tranquilli
authors.forename: Wusirika
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Ramakrishna
authors.forename: Phillip
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: SanMiguel
authors.forename: Jeffrey L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Bennetzen
authors.forename: Viviana
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Echenique
authors.forename: Jorge
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dubcovsky
mesh_terms: D000483:Alleles; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development; D001483:Base Sequence; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D003080:Cold Temperature; D015536:Down-Regulation; D004843:Epistasis, Genetic; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D035264:Flowers / Q000254:growth & development*; D017353:Gene Deletion; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D017343:Genes, Plant; D014644:Genetic Variation; D001467:Hordeum / Q000235:genetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D034622:RNA Interference; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D018749:RNA, Plant / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D012621:Seasons; D014158:Transcription, Genetic; D014908:Triticum / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development*
chemical_list: D010940:Plant Proteins; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D018749:RNA, Plant