Flowering time and transcriptome variation in Capsella bursa-pastoris (Brassicaceae)

? Flowering is a major developmental transition and its timing in relation to environmental conditions is of crucial importance to plant fitness. Understanding the genetic basis of flowering time variation is important to determining how plants adapt locally. ? Here, we investigated flowering time variation of Capsella bursa-pastoris collected from different latitudes in China. We also used a digital gene expression (DGE) system to generate partial gene expression profiles for 12 selected samples. ? We found that flowering time was highly variable and most strongly correlated with day length and winter temperature. Significant differences in gene expression between early- and late-flowering samples were detected for 72 candidate genes for flowering time. Genes related to circadian rhythms were significantly overrepresented among the differentially expressed genes. ? Our data suggest that circadian rhythms and circadian clock genes play an important role in the evolution of flowering time, and C. bursa-pastoris plants exhibit expression differences for candidate genes likely to affect flowering time across the broad range of environments they face in China.     

植物开花时间: 自然变异与遗传分化

开花时间是植物的重要生活史性状。对模式植物的研究表明: 从感受内外环境信号开始到最终分化形成功能性花器官的过程涉及复杂的信号转导途径和调控网络; 开花时间受多种因子的调控, 而FT基因作为整合途径成分起到非常关键的作用。植物的花期变异在物种、群体和个体水平上具有复杂的自然变异模式, 且不同植物的花期变异随全球环境变化而具有不同的变异趋势。植物个体之间通过传粉进行的基因交流需要功能性开花时间的一致或重叠, 而花期变异会导致群体之间或群体内部亚群体之间的基因流障碍和遗传分化, 并可能导致邻域或同域的物种形成。该文分析了植物花期变异与群体遗传分化的关系, 认为决定开花时间的基因在物种分化中可能起到关键的作用, 而对开花时间自然变异模式的研究对于揭示晚近分化快速辐射物种的进化模式具有重要意义。     

水稻开花期调控的分子机理研究进展

水稻准确地感知外部环境信号,通过内部复杂的基因网络做出反应,在一年中最适合的时候开花繁殖。与长日促进长日模式植物拟南芥开花相反,短日促进短日模式植物水稻开花。通过对水稻和拟南芥的开花期调控机理的对比分析,发现水稻和拟南芥有着一些相对保守的开花期控制基因,其调控机理也是相似的。另外,水稻也有一些独特的开花期控制基因和开花途径。本文着重从光周期对水稻开花期的调控途径和作用机理角度进行了阐述,并对水稻开花期的自然变异与其育种应用、生物钟关联基因、光中断现象和临界日长现象以及开花期与产量的关系进行了总结。     

Elevated CO2 influences the expression of floral-initiation genes in Arabidopsis thaliana

Atmospheric CO(2) concentration ([CO(2)]) is rising on a global scale and is known to affect flowering time. Elevated [CO(2)] may be as influential as temperature in determining future changes in plant developmental timing, but little is known about the molecular mechanisms that control altered flowering times at elevated [CO(2)]. Using Arabidopsis thaliana, the expression patterns were compared of floral-initiation genes between a genotype that was selected for high fitness at elevated [CO(2)] and a nonselected control genotype. The selected genotype exhibits pronounced delays in flowering time when grown at elevated [CO(2)], whereas the control genotype is unaffected by elevated [CO(2)]. Thus, this comparison provides an evolutionarily relevant system for gaining insight into the responses of plants to future increases in [CO(2)]. Evidence is provided that elevated [CO(2)] influences the expression of floral-initiation genes. In addition, it is shown that delayed flowering at elevated [CO(2)] is associated with sustained expression of the floral repressor gene, FLOWERING LOCUS C (FLC), in an elevated CO(2)-adapted genotype. Understanding the mechanisms that account for changes in plant developmental timing at elevated [CO(2)] is critical for predicting the responses of plants to a high-CO(2) world of the near future.     

Separation in flowering time contributes to the maintenance of sympatric cryptic plant lineages

Sympatric cryptic lineages are a challenge for the understanding of species coexistence and lineage diversification as well as for management, conservation, and utilization of plant genetic resources. In higher plants studies providing insights into the mechanisms creating and maintaining sympatric cryptic lineages are rare. Here, using microsatellites and chloroplast sequence data, morphometric analyses, and phenological observations, we ask whether sympatrically coexisting lineages in the common wetland plant Juncus effusus are ecologically differentiated and reproductively isolated. Our results show two genetically highly differentiated, homoploid lineages within J. effusus that are morphologically cryptic and have similar preference for soil moisture content. However, flowering time differed significantly between the lineages contributing to reproductive isolation and the maintenance of these lineages. Furthermore, the later flowering lineage suffered less from predispersal seed predation by a Coleophora moth species. Still, we detected viable and reproducing hybrids between both lineages and the earlier flowering lineage and J. conglomeratus, a coexisting close relative. Flowering time differentiation between the lineages can be explained by neutral divergence alone and together with a lack of postzygotic isolation mechanisms; the sympatric coexistence of these lineages is most likely the result of an allopatric origin with secondary contact.     

植物CO基因研究进展

CO(constans)是植物开花时间光周期调控途径中的一个重要基因.目前从拟南芥、水稻、油菜、马铃薯等多个物种中都已经克隆到CO同源基因.CO基因在不同物种中具有保守的锌指结构和核定位区域,但是不同植物中的作用机理并不完全相同.序列分析表明该基因在被子植物与裸子植物之间、双子叶植物与单子叶植物之间以及不同科、属的植物之间均有明显分化,说明CO基因可能在植物进化中起到了重要作用.本文综述了近年来有关植物CO基因的研究进展,并对其在物种中的进化进行分析,为CO基因进一步研究提供参考.