Characterization of a new mutant allele of the Arabidopsis Flowering Locus D (FID) gene that controls the flowering time by repressing FLC

摘要

Flowering in higher plants is controlled by both the internal and environmental cues. In Arabidopsis, several major genetic loci have been defined as the key switches to control flowering. The Flowering Locus C (FLC) gene has been shown in the autonomous pathway to inhibit the vegetative-to-reproductive transition. FLC appears to be repressed by Flowering Locus D (FLD), which encodes a component of the histone deacetylase complex. Here we report the identification and characterization of a new mutant allele fld-5. Genetic analysis indicates that fld-5 (in the Was-silewskija background) is allelic to the previously characterized fld-3 and fld-4 (in the Colombia-0 background). Genetic and molecular analyses reveal that fld-5 carries a frame-shift mutation, resulting in a premature termination of the FLD open reading frame. The FLC expression is remarkably increased in fld-5, which presumably attributes to the extremely delayed flowering phenotype of the mutant.