Open AccessVariation in shade-induced flowering in Arabidopsis thaliana results from FLOWERING LOCUS T allelic variation
Author(s) -
Christopher Schwartz,
Joohyun Lee,
Richard M. Amasino
Publication year - 2017
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.0187768
Subject(s) - biology , locus (genetics) , flowering locus c , allele , botany , genetic variation , shade avoidance , cultivar , arabidopsis thaliana , horticulture , arabidopsis , genetics , gene , mutant
Plants have evolved developmental mechanisms to ensure reproduction when in sub-optimal local environments. The shade-avoidance syndrome is one such mechanism that causes plants to elongate and accelerate flowering. Plants sense shade via the decreased red:far-red (R:FR) ratio that occurs in shade. We explored natural variation in flowering behavior caused by a decrease in the R:FR ratio of Arabidopsis thaliana accessions. A survey of accessions revealed that most exhibit a vigorous rapid-flowering response in a FR-enriched environment. However, a subset of accessions appeared to be compromised in the accelerated-flowering component of the shade-avoidance response. The genetic basis of the muted response to FR enrichment was studied in three accessions (Fl-1, Hau-0, and Mir-0). For all three accessions, the reduced FR flowering-time effect mapped to the FLOWERING LOCUS T ( FT ) region, and the FT alleles from these accessions are expressed at a lower level in FR-enriched light compared to alleles from accessions that respond robustly to FR enrichment. In the Mir-0 accession, a second genomic region, which includes CONSTANTS ( CO ), also influenced flowering in FR-enriched conditions. We have demonstrated that variation in the degree of precocious flowering in shaded conditions (low R:FR ratio) results from allelic variation at FT .