A Novel 'Petaloid' Mutant of Torenia (Torenia fournieri Lind. ex Fourn.) Bears Double Flowers through Insertion of the DNA Transposon Ttf1 into a C-class Floral Homeotic Gene

摘要

A double-flowered torenia (Torenia fournieri Lind. ex Fourn.) mutant, "Petaloid", was obtained from selfed progeny of the "Flecked" mutant, in which the transposition of the DNA transposon Ttf1 is active. A normal torenia flower has a synsepalous calyx consisting of 5 sepals, a synpetalous corolla consisting of 5 petals, 4 distinct stamens, and a syncarpous pistil consisting of 2 carpels. In contrast, a flower of the "Petaloid" mutant has 4 distinct petals converted from stamens, whereas the calyx, corolla, and pistil remain unchanged. The double-flower trait of the "Petaloid" mutant was unstable; some or all of the 4 petals converted from stamens frequently reverted to stamens. Furthermore, most S-1 plants obtained from self-pollination of the somatic revertant flower bore only normal single flowers. In petals converted from stamens, expression of the C-class floral homeotic gene T. fournieri FARINELLI (TfFAR) was almost completely inhibited. This inhibition was caused by insertion of Ttf1 into the 2nd intron of TfFAR, whereas reversion of converted petals to stamens was caused by excision of Ttf1 from TfFAR. The clear correspondence of the TfFAR genotype to the floral phenotype suggested that homozygous TfFAR alleles with the Ttf1 insertion caused the mutant phenotype. In contrast, TfFAR was moderately expressed in the pistil of the "Petaloid" mutant, leaving the pistil unchanged. We succeeded in inactivating Ttf1 transposition by cross-pollination between mutant and normal-type plants to genetically separate the transposon Ttf1 from the unidentified factor activating its transposition, which made the "Petaloid" mutation more stable.