title: WEREWOLF, a regulator of root hair pattern formation, controls flowering time through the regulation of FT mRNA stability.
abstract: A key floral activator, FT, integrates stimuli from long-day, vernalization, and autonomous pathways and triggers flowering by directly regulating floral meristem identity genes in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana). Since a small amount of FT transcript is sufficient for flowering, the FT level is strictly regulated by diverse genes. In this study, we show that WEREWOLF (WER), a MYB transcription factor regulating root hair pattern, is another regulator of FT. The mutant wer flowers late in long days but normal in short days and shows a weak sensitivity to vernalization, which indicates that WER controls flowering time through the photoperiod pathway. The expression and double mutant analyses showed that WER modulates FT transcript level independent of CONSTANS and FLOWERING LOCUS C. The histological analysis of WER shows that it is expressed in the epidermis of leaves, where FT is not expressed. Consistently, WER regulates not the transcription but the stability of FT mRNA. Our results reveal a novel regulatory mechanism of FT that is non cell autonomous.
authors.affiliation: National Research Laboratory of Plant Developmental Genetics, School of Biological Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-742, Korea.
authors.forename: Eunjoo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Seo
authors.forename: Jihyeon
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Kook Hui
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Ryu
authors.forename: Myeong Min
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Ilha
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D019521:Body Patterning / Q000235:genetics*; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D035264:Flowers / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D017343:Genes, Plant / Q000235:genetics; D009154:Mutation / Q000235:genetics; D017440:Photoperiod; D018517:Plant Roots / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development*; D020871:RNA Stability / Q000235:genetics*; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D013997:Time Factors; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
chemical_list: D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; C418905:FT protein, Arabidopsis; D012333:RNA, Messenger; C402111:WER protein, Arabidopsis