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Analysis of two TFL1 homologs of dogwood species (Cornus L.) indicates functional conservation in control of transition to flowering

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Two TFL1 -like genes, CorfloTFL1 and CorcanTFL1 cloned from Cornus florida and C. canadensis, function in regulating the transition to reproductive development in Arabidopsis.

TERMINAL FLOWER 1 (TFL1) is known to regulate inflorescence development in Arabidopsis thaliana and to inhibit the transition from a vegetative to reproductive phase within the shoot apical meristem. Despite the importance, TFL1 homologs have been functionally characterized in only a handful eudicots. Here we report the role of TFL1 homologs of Cornus L. in asterid clade of eudicots. Two TFL1-like genes, CorfloTFL1 and CorcanTFL1, were cloned from Cornus florida (a tree) and C. canadensis (a subshrub), respectively. Both are deduced to encode proteins of 175 amino acids. The amino acid sequences of these two Cornus TFL1 homologs share a high similarity to Arabidopsis TFL1 and phylogenetically more close to TFL1 paralogous copy ATC (Arabidopsis thaliana CENTRORADIALIS homologue). Two genes are overexpressed in wild-type and tfl1 mutant plants of A. thaliana. The over-expression of each gene in wild-type Arabidopsis plants results in delaying flowering time, increase of plant height and cauline and rosette leaf numbers, excessive shoot buds, and secondary inflorescence branches. The over-expression of each gene in the tfl1 mutant rescued developmental defects, such as the early determinate inflorescence development, early flowering time, and other vegetative growth defects, to normal phenotypes of wild-type plants. These transgenic phenotypes are inherited in progenies. All data indicate that CorfloTFL1 and CorcanTFL1 have conserved the ancestral function of TFL1 and CEN regulating flowering time and inflorescence determinacy.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank NCSU Phytotron for culturing plants of C. canadensis and A. thaliana, JC Raulston Arboretum for providing Cornus plants as the sources for experimental materials. We are grateful to undergraduate students Charlotte Rastas, Chanel Wilson, Kimberly Shearer, and Ashley Yow for assistance in culturing the transgenic and control plants, Ashley Yow for DNA extraction and PCR of transgenic plants, and to the anonymous reviewers for critical review of the manuscript and constructive comments. The study was supported by a National Science Foundation of the United States grant (IOS-1024629).

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  1. Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, 27695-7612, USA

    Xiang Liu, Ahmad Abuahmad, Robert G. Franks, De-Yu Xie & Qiu-Yun Xiang

  2. State Key Laboratory of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, People’s Republic of China

    Jian Zhang

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  1. Xiang Liu
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  3. Ahmad Abuahmad
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Correspondence to Robert G. Franks, De-Yu Xie or Qiu-Yun Xiang.

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425_2016_2466_MOESM1_ESM.jpg

Phenotypes of T2 generation of transgenic plants. (a) Averages of T2 lines of 35S::CorcanTFL1 Col-0 transformation. (b) Averages of T2 lines of 35S::CorfloTFL1 Col-0 transformation. (c) Averages of T2 lines of CorcanTFL1 tfl1-18 transformation. (d) Averages of T2 lines of CorfloTFL1 tfl1-18 transformation. 15 plants of each line were planted. An average of 15 plants of each T1 offspring was calculated first. The average was then used for calculating the total average of all lines of each transgene (CorcanTFL1 or CorfloTFL1) with each genetic background (Col-0 or tfl1-18). Columns indicate the averages of each phenotype. Error bars indicate the standard deviation (±SD) (JPEG 289 kb)

List of primers (DOC 38 kb)

Accession numbers of TFL1 homologs in phylogenic tree (DOCX 15 kb)

Phenotypes of T1 Arabidopsis transgenic Col-0 plants (DOC 53 kb)

Phenotypes of T1 transgenic Arabidopsis tfl1-18 plants (DOC 57 kb)

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Liu, X., Zhang, J., Abuahmad, A. et al. Analysis of two TFL1 homologs of dogwood species (Cornus L.) indicates functional conservation in control of transition to flowering. Planta 243, 1129–1141 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-016-2466-x

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