title: Silencing Nicotiana attenuata LHY and ZTL alters circadian rhythms in flowers.
abstract: The rhythmic opening/closing and volatile emissions of flowers are known to attract pollinators at specific times. That these rhythms are maintained under constant light or dark conditions suggests a circadian clock involvement. Although a forward and reverse genetic approach has led to the identification of core circadian clock components in Arabidopsis thaliana, the involvement of these clock components in floral rhythms has remained untested, probably because of the weak diurnal rhythms in A. thaliana flowers. Here, we addressed the role of these core clock components in the flowers of the wild tobacco Nicotiana attenuata, whose flowers open at night, emit benzyl acetone (BA) scents and move vertically through a 140° arc. We first measured N. attenuata floral rhythms under constant light conditions. The results suggest that the circadian clock controls flower opening, BA emission and pedicel movement, but not flower closing. We generated transgenic N. attenuata lines silenced in the homologous genes of Arabidopsis LATE ELONGATED HYPOCOTYL (LHY) and ZEITLUPE (ZTL), which are known to be core clock components. Silencing NaLHY and NaZTL strongly altered floral rhythms in different ways, indicating that conserved clock components in N. attenuata coordinate these floral rhythms.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Ecology, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Hans-Knöll-Straße 8, Jena, D-07745, Germany.
authors.forename: Felipe
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Yon
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Ecology, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Hans-Knöll-Straße 8, Jena, D-07745, Germany.
authors.forename: Youngsung
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Joo
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Ecology, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Hans-Knöll-Straße 8, Jena, D-07745, Germany.
authors.forename: Lucas
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cortés Llorca
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Ecology, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Hans-Knöll-Straße 8, Jena, D-07745, Germany.
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Rothe
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Ecology, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Hans-Knöll-Straße 8, Jena, D-07745, Germany.
authors.forename: Ian T
authors.initials: IT
authors.lastname: Baldwin
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Ecology, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Hans-Knöll-Straße 8, Jena, D-07745, Germany.|Center for Genome Engineering, Institute for Basic Science, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 305-811, South Korea.
authors.forename: Sang-Gyu
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D002940:Circadian Rhythm / Q000235:genetics*; D035264:Flowers / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology*; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D020868:Gene Silencing; D009812:Odorants; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D036226:Seedlings / Q000378:metabolism; D014026:Nicotiana / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology*; D014835:Volatilization
chemical_list: D010940:Plant Proteins; D012333:RNA, Messenger
keywords: NaLHY; NaZTL; Nicotiana attenuata; circadian clock; floral rhythms