title: Variation in Arabidopsis flowering time associated with cis-regulatory variation in CONSTANS.
abstract: The onset of flowering, the change from vegetative to reproductive development, is a major life history transition in flowering plants. Recent work suggests that mutations in cis-regulatory mutations should play critical roles in the evolution of this (as well as other) important adaptive traits, but thus far there has been little evidence that directly links regulatory mutations to evolutionary change at the species level. While several genes have previously been shown to affect natural variation in flowering time in Arabidopsis thaliana, most either show protein-coding changes and/or are found at low frequency (<5%). Here we identify and characterize natural variation in the cis-regulatory sequence in the transcription factor CONSTANS that underlies flowering time diversity in Arabidopsis. Mutation in this regulatory motif evolved recently and has spread to high frequency in Arabidopsis natural accessions, suggesting a role for these cis-regulatory changes in adaptive variation of flowering time.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Center for Genomics and Systems Biology, New York University, New York, New York 10003, USA.
authors.forename: Ulises
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Rosas
authors.affiliation: Department of Crop Science, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, Illinois 61801, USA.
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Mei
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire 03755, USA.
authors.forename: Qiguang
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.affiliation: 1] Department of Biology, Center for Genomics and Systems Biology, New York University, New York, New York 10003, USA [2] Department of Biology, The University of Texas at Tyler, Tyler, Texas 75799, USA.
authors.forename: Joshua A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Banta
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Center for Genomics and Systems Biology, New York University, New York, New York 10003, USA.
authors.forename: Royce W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Department of Crop Science, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, Illinois 61801, USA.
authors.forename: Gabriela
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Seufferheld
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Center for Genomics and Systems Biology, New York University, New York, New York 10003, USA.
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gerard
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Center for Genomics and Systems Biology, New York University, New York, New York 10003, USA.
authors.forename: Lucy
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chou
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Center for Genomics and Systems Biology, New York University, New York, New York 10003, USA.
authors.forename: Naeha
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Bhambhra
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, The University of Texas at Tyler, Tyler, Texas 75799, USA.
authors.forename: Jennifer Deane
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Parks
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Center for Genomics and Systems Biology, New York University, New York, New York 10003, USA.
authors.forename: Jonathan M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Flowers
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire 03755, USA.
authors.forename: C Robertson
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: McClung
authors.affiliation: Department of Crop Science, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, Illinois 61801, USA.
authors.forename: Yoshie
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hanzawa
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Center for Genomics and Systems Biology, New York University, New York, New York 10003, USA.
authors.forename: Michael D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Purugganan
mesh_terms: D017360:Arabidopsis; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D001483:Base Sequence; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D035264:Flowers; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D014644:Genetic Variation; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation; D010641:Phenotype; D012098:Reproduction / Q000235:genetics*; D013997:Time Factors; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins; C092776:CONSTANS protein, Arabidopsis; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D014157:Transcription Factors
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