Characterization of FLOWERING LOCUS C Homologs in Apple as a Model for Fruit Trees

To elucidate the molecular mechanism of juvenility and annual flowering of fruit trees, ( ), an integrator of flowering signals, was investigated in apple as a model. We performed sequence and expression analyses and transgenic experiments related to juvenility with annual flowering to characterize...

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Published in:	International journal of molecular sciences Vol. 21; no. 12; p. 4562
Main Authors:	Kagaya, Hidenao, Ito, Naoko, Shibuya, Tomoki, Komori, Sadao, Kato, Kazuhisa, Kanayama, Yoshinori
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Switzerland MDPI AG 26-06-2020 MDPI
Subjects:	Alternative splicing Amino Acid Sequence Amino acids Arabidopsis - genetics Arabidopsis - metabolism Flowering FLOWERING LOCUS C Flowers - genetics Flowers - growth & development Flowers - metabolism Fruit - genetics Fruit - growth & development Fruit - metabolism Fruit trees Fruits Functional analysis Gene Expression Profiling Gene Expression Regulation, Plant Genes Genetic transformation Genomes Homology Introns juvenility Levels Loci MADS Domain Proteins - genetics MADS Domain Proteins - metabolism Malus - genetics Malus - growth & development Malus - metabolism Malus domestica mRNA Phase transitions Phylogenetics Phylogeny Plant Proteins - genetics Plant Proteins - metabolism Plants (botany) Rosaceae Seasonal variations Seedlings Seeds Sequence Homology Signal transduction Trees juvenility Malus domestica flowering FLOWERING LOCUS C Rosaceae
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Summary:	To elucidate the molecular mechanism of juvenility and annual flowering of fruit trees, ( ), an integrator of flowering signals, was investigated in apple as a model. We performed sequence and expression analyses and transgenic experiments related to juvenility with annual flowering to characterize the apple homologs . The phylogenetic tree analysis, which included other MADS-box genes, showed that both MdFLC1 and MdFLC3 belong to the same FLC group. MdFLC1c from one of the splice variants and MdFLC3 contain the four conserved motives of an MIKC-type MADS protein. The mRNA of variants and contain intron sequences, and their deduced amino acid sequences lack K- and C-domains. The expression levels of , , and decreased during the flowering induction period in a seasonal expression pattern in the adult trees, whereas the expression level of did not decrease during that period. This suggests that is involved in flowering induction in the annual growth cycle of adult trees. In apple seedlings, because phase change can be observed in individuals, seedlings can be used for analysis of expression during phase transition. The expression levels of , , and were high during the juvenile phase and low during the transitional and adult phases. Because the expression pattern of suggests that it plays a specific role in juvenility, was subjected to functional analysis by transformation of . The results revealed the function of as a floral repressor. In addition, had CArG box-like sequences, putative targets for the suppression of flowering by MdFLC binding, in the introns and promoter regions. These results indicate that apple homologs of FLC, which might play a role upstream of the flowering signals, could be involved in juvenility as well as in annual flowering. Apples with sufficient genome-related information are useful as a model for studying phenomena unique to woody plants such as juvenility and annual flowering.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	1422-0067 1661-6596 1422-0067
DOI:	10.3390/ijms21124562