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Medicago truncatula SOC1 genes are up-regulated by environmental cues that promote flowering

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posted on 2023-05-21, 01:09 authored by Fudge, JB, Lee, RH, Laurie, RE, Mysore, KS, Wen, J, James WellerJames Weller, Macknight, RC
Like Arabidopsis thaliana, the flowering of the legume Medicago truncatula is promoted by long day (LD) photoperiod and vernalization. However, there are differences in the molecular mechanisms involved, with orthologs of two key Arabidopsis thaliana regulators, FLOWERING LOCUS C (FLC) and CONSTANS (CO), being absent or not having a role in flowering time function in Medicago. In Arabidopsis, the MADS-box transcription factor gene, SUPPRESSOR OF OVEREXPRESSION OF CONSTANS 1 (AtSOC1), plays a key role in integrating the photoperiodic and vernalization pathways. In this study, we set out to investigate whether the Medicago SOC1 genes play a role in regulating flowering time. Three Medicago SOC1 genes were identified and characterized (MtSOC1a–MtSOC1c). All three MtSOC1 genes, when heterologously expressed, were able to promote earlier flowering of the late-flowering Arabidopsis soc1-2 mutant. The three MtSOC1 genes have different patterns of expression. However, consistent with a potential role in flowering time regulation, all three MtSOC1 genes are expressed in the shoot apex and are up-regulated in the shoot apex of plants in response to LD photoperiods and vernalization. The up-regulation of MtSOC1 genes was reduced in Medicago fta1-1 mutants, indicating that they are downstream of MtFTa1. Insertion mutant alleles of Medicago soc1b do not flower late, suggestive of functional redundancy among Medicago SOC1 genes in promoting flowering.

Funding

Australian Research Council

History

Publication title

Frontiers in Plant Science

Volume

9

Article number

496

Number

496

Pagination

1-24

ISSN

1664-462X

Department/School

School of Natural Sciences

Publisher

Frontiers Research Foundation

Place of publication

Switzerland

Rights statement

Copyright © 2018 Fudge, Lee, Laurie, Mysore, Wen, Weller and Macknight. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) License (Chttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

Repository Status

  • Open

Socio-economic Objectives

Pasture, browse and fodder crops not elsewhere classified; Grain legumes

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