title: Identification and expression of an APETALA2-like gene from Nelumbo nucifera.
abstract: Arabidopsis transcription factor APETALA2 (AP2) controls multiple aspects of plant growth and development, including seed development, stem cell maintenance, and specification of floral organ identity. Based on sequence similar of Arabidopsis AP2 and its homologues genes from other plant species, degenerate RT-PCR and rapid amplification of cDNA ends assay were used to clone AP2 genes from lotus (Nelumbo nucifera). A 2,048-bp cDNA fragment was obtained, which contains a 1,536-bp open reading frame encoding a protein of 511 amino acids. The protein contains two AP2 domains that are conserved in AP2 proteins from other plant species, thus was named as N. nucifera APETALA2 (NnAP2). Quantitative RT-PCR revealed that NnAP2 gene was expressed in flowers, roots, leaves, and stems of N. nucifera, with flowers which have the highest transcript levels. Further analysis showed that in all five lotus cultivars examined, including "Zhongguogudailian," "Yaoniangyujiao," "Jinxia," "Hongtailian," and "Yiliangqianban," petals always have the highest expression levels when compared with the other four flower organs, though the number of petals in these cultivars ranged from simple to thousands. However, NnAP2 expression level in four nonsimple petal flower cultivars was higher than that in the simple petal flower cultivar Zhongguogudailian, indicating that NnAP2 may play a role in specification of petal identity during the evolutionary process of the ancient species N. nucifera.
authors: College of Horticulture, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China.
authors: Zhaolei
authors: Z
authors: Liu
authors: Chunsun
authors: C
authors: Gu
authors: Fadi
authors: F
authors: Chen
authors: Jiafu
authors: J
authors: Jiang
authors: Yinghao
authors: Y
authors: Yang
authors: Peiling
authors: P
authors: Li
authors: Sumei
authors: S
authors: Chen
authors: Zhen
authors: Z
authors: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D001483:Base Sequence; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000235:genetics; D035264:Flowers / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D031653:Nelumbo / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development; D009687:Nuclear Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid
chemical_list: C499534:APETALA2 protein, Arabidopsis; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins; D009687:Nuclear Proteins