title: Functional analysis of alternative splicing of theFLOWERING LOCUS Torthologous gene inChrysanthemum morifolium.
abstract: As the junction of floral development pathways, the FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT) protein called 'florigen' plays an important role in the process of plant flowering through signal integration. We isolated four transcripts encoding different isoforms of aFTorthologous geneCmFTL1, fromChrysanthemum morifoliumcultivar 'Jimba'. Sequence alignments suggested that the four transcripts are related to the intron 1. Expression analysis showed that four alternative splicing (AS) forms ofCmFTL1varied depending on the developmental stage of the flower. The functional complement experiment using anArabidopsismutantft-10revealed that the archetypal and AS forms ofCmFTL1had the function of complementing late flower phenotype in different levels. In addition, transgenic confirmation at transcript level showedCmFTL1andCmFTL1astcoexist in the same tissue type at the same developmental stage, indicating a post-transcriptional modification ofCmFTL1inArabidopsis. Moreover, ectopic expression of different AS forms in chrysanthemum resulted in the development of multiple altered phenotypes, varying degrees of early flowering. We found that an alternative splicing form (CmFTL1-astE134)without the exon 2 lacked the ability causing the earlier flower phenotype. The evidence in this study indicates that complex alternative processing ofCmFTL1transcripts inC. morifoliummay be associated with flowering regulation and hold some potential for biotechnical engineering to create early-flowering phenotypes in ornamental cultivars.
authors.affiliation: College of Horticulture, Nanjing Agricultural University , Nanjing 210095, China.
authors.forename: Yachao
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Mao
authors.affiliation: College of Horticulture, Nanjing Agricultural University , Nanjing 210095, China.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: College of Horticulture, Nanjing Agricultural University , Nanjing 210095, China.
authors.forename: Peipei
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.affiliation: College of Horticulture, Nanjing Agricultural University , Nanjing 210095, China.
authors.forename: Rong
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: College of Horticulture, Nanjing Agricultural University , Nanjing 210095, China.
authors.forename: Qike
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.affiliation: College of Horticulture, Nanjing Agricultural University , Nanjing 210095, China.
authors.forename: Sumei
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: College of Horticulture, Nanjing Agricultural University , Nanjing 210095, China.
authors.forename: Fadi
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: College of Horticulture, Nanjing Agricultural University , Nanjing 210095, China.
authors.forename: Jiafu
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jiang