Wheat TILLING mutants show that the vernalization gene VRN1 down-regulates the flowering repressor VRN2 in leaves but is not essential for flowering.

ABSTRACT: Most of the natural variation in wheat vernalization response is determined by allelic differences in the MADS-box transcription factor VERNALIZATION1 (VRN1). Extended exposures to low temperatures during the winter (vernalization) induce VRN1 expression and promote the transition of the apical meristem to the reproductive phase. In contrast to its Arabidopsis homolog (APETALA1), which is mainly expressed in the apical meristem, VRN1 is also expressed at high levels in the leaves, but its function in this tissue is not well understood. Using tetraploid wheat lines with truncation mutations in the two homoeologous copies of VRN1 (henceforth vrn1-null mutants), we demonstrate that a central role of VRN1 in the leaves is to maintain low transcript levels of the VRN2 flowering repressor after

SUBMITTER: Chen A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3521655 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature