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Molecular cloning and functional analysis of one ZEITLUPE homolog GmZTL3 in soybean

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Abstract

ZEITLUPE (ZTL) plays an important role in the control of flowering time and photomorpogenesis in Arabidopsis and is highly conserved throughout the plant kingdom. Here, we report the characterization of a soybean ZTL homolog GmZTL3 (Glycine max ZTL 3). The absorption spectrum of the recombinant GmZTL3 proteins indicates that it may be a UV/blue photoreceptor. The GmZTL3 expression is independent of diurnal cycles and varies in different tissues along with developmental stages. Before the unifoliolates open fully, GmZTL3 transcripts concentrate in the roots and hypocotyls, while at flowering GmZTL3 accumulates at higher abundance in stems and petioles. Furthermore, the GmZTL3 mRNA accumulates in all kinds of leaves before flowering and concentrates in maturation seeds. In Arabidopsis, the ectopic expression of GmZTL3 delays flowering, implicating GmZTL3 is an inhibitor of flowering induction. Our data indicate that GmZTL3 probably functions as a photoreceptor and plays a role in multiple developmental processes, including the control of flowering time.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Drs. George Coupland and Jane Parker kindly provided destination vectors of pLeela, pENSG-GFP, and pEXSP-YFP, and Mr. Feng Zhao raised the GmZTL antibody. This work was supported in part by Transgenic program (Nos 2011ZX08009-001 and 2011ZX08004-005), the National Natural Science Founds (31000681), and the Chinese National Key Basic Research “973” Program (2010CB125906).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Agronomy, Henan Agricultural University, 63 Nongye Road, Jinshui District, Zhengzhou, 450002, China

    Zheng-Gang Xue & Xin-Jian Chen

  2. Institute of Crop Sciences, National Key Facility of Crop Gene Resource and Genetic Improvement, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, 12 Zhongguancun Nandajie, Haidian District, Beijing, 100081, China

    Xiao-Mei Zhang & Yong-Fu Fu

  3. College of Life Sciences, Henan Agricultural University, 63 Nongye Road, Jinshui District, Zhengzhou, 450002, China

    Chen-Fang Lei & Xin-Jian Chen

Authors
  1. Zheng-Gang Xue
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  2. Xiao-Mei Zhang
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  3. Chen-Fang Lei
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  4. Xin-Jian Chen
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  5. Yong-Fu Fu
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Xin-Jian Chen or Yong-Fu Fu.

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Zheng-Gang Xue, Xiao-Mei Zhang and Chen-Fang Lei contributed equally to this study.

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Xue, ZG., Zhang, XM., Lei, CF. et al. Molecular cloning and functional analysis of one ZEITLUPE homolog GmZTL3 in soybean. Mol Biol Rep 39, 1411–1418 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-011-0875-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-011-0875-2

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