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PMID: 21282524 Published · ppublish English Journal Article Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

The pea GIGAS gene is a FLOWERING LOCUS T homolog necessary for graft-transmissible specification of flowering but not for responsiveness to photoperiod.

The Plant cell ·Vol. 23 ·No. 1 ·2011-01-00 ·Pages 147-61

Hecht V, Laurie RE, Vander Schoor JK, Ridge S, Knowles CL, Liew LC, Sussmilch FC, Murfet IC, Macknight RC, Weller JL

Abstract

Garden pea (Pisum sativum) was prominent in early studies investigating the genetic control of flowering and the role of mobile flowering signals. In view of recent evidence that genes in the FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT) family play an important role in generating mobile flowering signals, we isolated the FT gene family in pea and examined the regulation and function of its members. Comparison with Medicago truncatula and soybean (Glycine max) provides evidence of three ancient subclades (FTa, FTb, and FTc) likely to be common to most crop and model legumes. Pea FT genes show distinctly different expression patterns with respect to developmental timing, tissue specificity, and response to photoperiod and differ in their activity in transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana, suggesting they may have different functions. We show that the pea FTa1 gene corresponds to the GIGAS locus, which is essential for flowering under long-day conditions and promotes flowering under short-day conditions but is not required for photoperiod responsiveness. Grafting, expression, and double mutant analyses show that GIGAS/FTa1 regulates a mobile flowering stimulus but also provide clear evidence for a second mobile flowering stimulus that is correlated with expression of FTb2 in leaf tissue. These results suggest that induction of flowering by photoperiod in pea results from interactions among several members of a diversified FT family.

MeSH Terms
Flowers/genetics,growth & development Gene Expression Regulation, Plant Genetic Complementation Test Medicago/genetics Multigene Family Mutation Peas/genetics,growth & development Photoperiod Phylogeny Plant Proteins/genetics,metabolism Plants, Genetically Modified/genetics,growth & development Soybeans/genetics
Chemicals
Plant Proteins
Authors & Affiliations
10 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Hecht Valérie
School of Plant Science, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania 7001, Australia.
Laurie Rebecca E
Vander Schoor Jacqueline K
Ridge Stephen
Knowles Claire L
Liew Lim Chee
Sussmilch Frances C
Murfet Ian C
Macknight Richard C
Weller James L
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Article Info
Journal
The Plant cell
Abbr.
Plant Cell
ISSN
1532-298X
DOI
10.1105/tpc.110.081042
Published
2011-01-00
Epub
2011-00-31
Pages
147-61
Language
English
Region
England
NLM ID
9208688
PMCID
PMC3051257
Subset
IM
External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.1105/tpc.110.081042 PMC Full Text View journal details
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