Illuminating Functions of the IDD Gene Family: Analysis of a Potential Ancestral Role in Carbohydrate Balance in Arabidopsis and Epigenetic Regulation of Maize Florigen ZCN8

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Date

2014-08-21

Authors

Hand, Andrew

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Publisher

University of Guelph

Abstract

The transition to flowering in plants is a result of the shoot apical meristem receiving a long-distance florigenic signal from mature leaves, eliciting a morphological change. The maize INDETERMINATE1 gene encodes a transcription factor that regulates the expression of ZCN8, the maize florigenic signal. However, the expression profiles of these two genes do not overlap, suggesting indirect regulation, possibly through epigenetic modifications. This is further substantiated by experiments that suggest ID1 interacts with epigenetic regulators. A high-resolution expression profile of ZCN8 was produced in order to assist epigenetic analysis. ID1 is also the founding member of a family of genes found across all higher plants that contain the conserved ID domain (IDD). Previous experiments suggest that the ancestral function of the IDD gene family is in carbohydrate regulation. Carbohydrate analysis across a range of growth conditions was employed to provide evidence that Arabidopsis IDD genes function to regulate carbon flow.

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Keywords

IDD, Maize, ZCN8, Florigen, Starch

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