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GmFULa, a FRUITFULL homolog, functions in the flowering and maturation of soybean

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Abstract

Key message

A FRUITFULL homolog GmFULa was cloned and found to play roles in the flowering and maturation of soybean.

Abstract

Soybean varieties exhibit great diversity in terms of flowering and maturation due to differences in their photoperiodic responses. The underlying mechanism remains unclear despite the fact that some upstream flowering genes have been studied. FRUITFULL (FUL) genes are one group of downstream flowering genes known to have major roles in reproductive transition, floral meristem identity, and floral organ identity. However, FUL homologs and their functions are poorly understood in soybean. Here, a soybean FUL homolog was cloned from the late-maturing photoperiod-sensitive soybean variety Zigongdongdou (ZGDD) and designated GmFULa. In ZGDD, GmFULa exhibited a terminal-preferential expression pattern, with higher expression in the root and shoot apices than in the middle parts. Diurnal rhythm analysis revealed that photoperiod regulates the GmFULa expression level but does not alter its diurnal rhythm. ZGDD was maintained under different photoperiod conditions (long day, LD; short day, SD; LD after 13 short days, SD13-LD) to assess GmFULa expression in newly expanded leaves and in the shoot apex. From this analysis, GmFULa expression was detected in the floral meristem, floral organs and their primordia; trifoliate leaves; and the inflorescence meristem, with the expression levels induced by SD and inhibited by LD. GmFULa expression was also associated with maturity in seven soybean varieties with different photoperiod sensitivities. Therefore, photoperiod conditions affect the expression level of GmFULa but not its diurnal rhythm. The gene plays pleiotropic roles in reproductive transition, flowering, and leaf development and is associated with maturity in soybean.

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Abbreviations

FUL:

FRUITFULL

CDS:

Coding sequence

LD:

Long day

SD:

Short day

AP1:

APETALA1

ZGDD:

Zigongdongdou

HH27:

Heihe 27

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the China Agriculture Research System (CARS-04), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (http://www.nsfc.gov.cn; Grant No. 30070456 and 30471054) and the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) Innovation Project.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The National Key Facility for Crop Gene Resources and Genetic Improvement and MOA Key Lab of Soybean Biology (Beijing), Institute of Crop Science, The Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, 100081, China

    Zhen Jia, Bingjun Jiang, Xiaowei Gao, Yanlei Yue, Zhihong Fei, Hongbo Sun, Cunxiang Wu, Shi Sun, Wensheng Hou & Tianfu Han

  2. Tianshui Normal College, Tianshui, 741001, Gansu, China

    Zhen Jia

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  1. Zhen Jia
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  2. Bingjun Jiang
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  3. Xiaowei Gao
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  4. Yanlei Yue
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  5. Zhihong Fei
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  6. Hongbo Sun
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  7. Cunxiang Wu
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  8. Shi Sun
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  9. Wensheng Hou
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  10. Tianfu Han
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tianfu Han.

Additional information

Communicated by Renate Schmidt.

Z. Jia and B. Jiang contributed equally to this work.

Electronic supplementary material

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299_2014_1693_MOESM1_ESM.tif

Additional file 1 - Figure S1. GmFULa DNA and protein sequences. Non-bold, GmFULa DNA sequence; bold, GmFULa protein sequence; yellow, GmFULa coding sequence; red, the conserved C-terminal motif of euFUL and FUL-like proteins. (TIFF 1016 kb)

Additional file 2 - Figure S2. GmFULa domains and alignment (TIFF 1298 kb)

Additional file 3 - Figure S3. GmFULa expression in soybean variety Heihe 27 (TIFF 795 kb)

299_2014_1693_MOESM4_ESM.tif

Additional file 4 - Figure S4. GmFULa expression in the shoot apices of different soybean varieties under short-day conditions by in situ hybridization. (a)-(c) Shoot apices of soybean variety Heihe 27. (d)-(f) Shoot apices of soybean variety Edou 4. (g)-(i) Shoot apices of soybean variety Jilin 30. (j)-(l) Shoot apices of soybean variety Jindou 19. (m)-(o) Shoot apices of soybean variety Dian 86-5. (p)-(r) Shoot apices of soybean variety Huaxia 1. SD5, SD10, and SD15 indicate 5, 10, and 15 short days, respectively. am, apical meristem; axm, axillary meristem; br, bract; c, carpel; fm, floral meristem; fp, floral primordium; im, inflorescence meristem; ip, inflorescence primordium; le, leaf/trifoliate leaf; p, pistil; pe, petal; pep, petal primordium; pp, pistil primordium; rf, reversed flower; s, stamen; se, sepal; sep, sepal primordium; sp, stamen primordium; tlp, trifoliate leaf primordium. Bar, 250 μM (TIFF 10444 kb)

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Jia, Z., Jiang, B., Gao, X. et al. GmFULa, a FRUITFULL homolog, functions in the flowering and maturation of soybean. Plant Cell Rep 34, 121–132 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00299-014-1693-5

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