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Identification and characterization of the CONSTANS-like gene family in the short-day plant Chrysanthemum lavandulifolium

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Abstract

The CONSTANS (CO) and CONSTANS-like (COL) genes play key roles in the photoperiodic flowering pathways, and studying their functions can elucidate the molecular mechanisms underlying flowering control in photoperiod-regulated plants. We identified eleven COL genes (ClCOL1–ClCOL11) in Chrysanthemum lavandulifolium and divided them into three groups that are conserved among the flowering plants based on phylogenetic analysis. Most of the ClCOL genes are primarily expressed in the leaf and shoot apices, except for ClCOL6–ClCOL9, which belong to Group II. The expression levels of ClCOL4–ClCOL5 and ClCOL7–ClCOL8 are up-regulated under inductive short-day (SD) conditions, whereas ClCOL6 is down-regulated under inductive SD conditions. The ClCOL genes exhibit four different diurnal rhythm expressions (Type I–Type IV). The Type I genes (ClCOL4–ClCOL5) are highly transcribed under light. The Type II genes (ClCOL1–ClCOL2, ClCOL10) display increased expression in darkness and are rapidly suppressed under light. Transcripts of ClCOL6–ClCOL9 and ClCOL11, belonging to Type III, are abundant in the late light period or at the beginning of the dark period. ClCOL3 belongs to Type IV, with high expression in the early light period and dark period. The peak expression levels of ClCOL4–ClCOL6 are decreased and postponed in the non-inductive night break (NB) and under long-day (LD) conditions, indicating that those genes may play an essential role in the flowering regulation of C. lavandulifolium. The overexpression of ClCOL5 promotes the flowering of Arabidopsis grown under LD conditions, suggesting that ClCOL5 may function as a flowering enhancer in C. lavandulifolium. This study will be useful not only for the study of the C. lavandulifolium photoperiod-dependent flowering process but also for the genetic manipulation of flowering time-related genes to change the flowering time in the chrysanthemum.

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Abbreviations

AP1 :

APETALA1

CCA1:

CIRCADIAN CLOCK ASSOCIATED 1

CCT:

CO, CO-like and TOC1

CDFs:

CYCLING DOF FACTORs

CO :

CONSTANS

COL :

CONSTANS-like

COP1:

CONSTITUTIVE PHOTOMORPHOGENESIS 1

CRY:

CRYPTOCHROME

CTAB:

Cetyltrimethylammonium bromide

DBB:

Double B-box

FKF1:

FLAVIN-BINDING, KELCH REPEAT F-BOX 1

FT :

FLOWERING LOCUS T

GI:

GIGANTEA

Hd1 :

Heading date 1

Hd3a :

Heading date 3a

HOS1:

HIGH EXPRESSION OF OSMOTICALLY RESPONSIVE GENES 1

LD:

Long-day

LFY :

LEAFY

LHY:

LATE ELONGATED HYPOCOTYL

MTP:

Metal tolerance protein

NB:

Night break

PHYB:

PHYTOCHROME B

qRT-PCR:

Quantitative real-time RT-PCR

RACE:

Rapid amplification of cDNA ends

SAND:

SAND family protein

SD:

Short-day

SOC1 :

SUPPRESSOR OF OVEREXPRESSION OF CONSTANS 1

SPA1:

SUPPRESSOR OF PHYA 1

STH:

Salt Tolerance Homologs

STO:

Salt Tolerance-like protein

SUR2 :

SUPERROOT 2

Tm:

Melting temperatures

TUB2 :

Β-tubulin

WT:

Wild-type

ZT:

Zeitgeber time

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Beijing Natural Science Foundation (Grant Number 6132020) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grant Number BLYJ20133).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Beijing Key Laboratory of Ornamental Plants Germplasm Innovation and Molecular Breeding, National Engineering Research Center for Floriculture and College of Landscape Architecture, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing, 100083, China

    Jianxin Fu, Liwen Yang & Silan Dai

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  1. Jianxin Fu
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  2. Liwen Yang
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  3. Silan Dai
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Correspondence to Silan Dai.

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Communicated by S. Hohmann.

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Fu, J., Yang, L. & Dai, S. Identification and characterization of the CONSTANS-like gene family in the short-day plant Chrysanthemum lavandulifolium . Mol Genet Genomics 290, 1039–1054 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00438-014-0977-3

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