Polymorphism of intron 2 of the FLORICAULA/LEAFY gene in Brassica plants

Pankin, A. A; Vorobiev, V. A; Khavkin, E. E

Polymorphism of intron 2 of the FLORICAULA/LEAFY gene in Brassica plants

2008

Pankin, A. A | Vorobiev, V. A | Khavkin, E. E

The genes FLORICAULA (FLO) in snapdragon and LEAFY (LFY) in arabidopsis encode a key transcription factor in control of the identity of shoot apical meristem, floral transition, and florogenesis. There is a persistent question whether these diverse functions are controlled by one and the same gene or rather, they are distributed between the paralogs arising from gene duplication. Due to its extensive polymorphism, the second intron of FLO/LFY (FLint2) would present a workable model for exploring this problem. We compared FLint2 structures within the genus Brassica and in the family Brassicaceae as a whole. The analysis of already cloned polymorphic regions within FLint2 sequences in diploid (genomes A, B, and C) and allotetraploid (genomes AB, AC, and BC) species of Brassica let us believe that two FLO/LFY paralogs were found within the genome B. All together, the structural polymorphisms, including the presence/absence of the binding site for the transcription regulator AGAMOUS-LIKE3/SEPALLATA4, presume that several Brassicaceae species comprise two FLO/LFY loci. The FLint2-derived markers of FLO/LFY developed in this study will help assess the copy numbers of this gene and carry out a detailed locus-specific analysis of FLint2 structure in diverse Brassica forms.

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