Open AccessOverexpression of Two PsnAP1 Genes from Populus simonii × P. nigra Causes Early Flowering in Transgenic Tobacco and Arabidopsis
Author(s) -
Tangchun Zheng,
Shuang Li,
Lei Zang,
Lijuan Dai,
Chuanping Yang,
Guanzheng Qu
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0111725
Subject(s) - arabidopsis , biology , meristem , transgene , inflorescence , botany , gene , genetically modified crops , ap 1 transcription factor , genetics , gene expression , mutant
In Arabidopsis , AP1 is a floral meristem identity gene and plays an important role in floral organ development. In this study, PsnAP1-1 and PsnAP1-2 were isolated from the male reproductive buds of poplar ( Populus simonii × P. nigra ), which are the orthologs of AP1 in Arabidopsis , by sequence analysis. Northern blot and qRT-PCR analysis showed that PsnAP1-1 and PsnAP1-2 exhibited high expression level in early inflorescence development of poplar. Subcellular localization showed the PsnAP1-1 and PsnAP1-2 proteins are localized in the nucleus. Overexpression of PsnAP1-1 and PsnAP1-2 in tobacco under the control of a CaMV 35S promoter significantly enhanced early flowering. These transgenic plants also showed much earlier stem initiation and higher rates of photosynthesis than did wild-type tobacco. qRT-PCR analysis further indicated that overexpression of PsnAP1-1 and PsnAP1-2 resulted in up-regulation of genes related to flowering, such as NtMADS4 , NtMADS5 and NtMADS11 . Overexpression of PsnAP1-1 and PsnAP1-2 in Arabidopsis also induced early flowering, but did not complement the ap1-10 floral morphology to any noticeable extent. This study indicates that PsnAP1-1 and PsnAP1-2 play a role in floral transition of poplar.