TableEdit

Schmitz, RJ, Hong, L, Michaels, S and Amasino, RM (2005) FRIGIDA-ESSENTIAL 1 interacts genetically with FRIGIDA and FRIGIDA-LIKE 1 to promote the winter-annual habit of Arabidopsis thaliana. Development 132:5471-8

Studies of natural variation have revealed that the winter-annual habit of many accessions of Arabidopsis is conferred by two genes, FRIGIDA (FRI) and FLOWERING LOCUS C (FLC), whose activities impose a vernalization requirement. To better understand the mechanism underlying the winter-annual habit, a genetic screen was performed to identify mutants that suppress the late-flowering behavior of a non-vernalized winter-annual strain. We have identified a locus, FRIGIDA-ESSENTIAL 1 (FES1), which, like FRI, is specifically required for the upregulation of FLC expression. FES1 is predicted to encode a protein with a CCCH zinc finger, but the predicted sequence does not otherwise share significant similarity with other known proteins. fes1 is a complete suppressor of FRI-mediated delayed flowering, but has little effect on the late-flowering phenotype of autonomous-pathway mutants. Thus, FES1 activity is required for the FRI-mediated winter-annual habit, but not for the similar phenotype resulting from autonomous-pathway mutations. Epistasis analysis between FES1, FRI and another specific suppressor of FRI-containing lines, FRIGIDA-LIKE 1 (FRL1), indicates that these genes do not function in a linear pathway, but instead act cooperatively to promote the expression of FLC.

PubMed Online version:10.1242/dev.02170

Amino Acid Sequence; Arabidopsis/metabolism; Arabidopsis/physiology; Arabidopsis Proteins/genetics; Arabidopsis Proteins/physiology; Carrier Proteins/genetics; Carrier Proteins/physiology; Epistasis, Genetic; Flowers/genetics; Flowers/physiology; Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; Molecular Sequence Data; Mutation; Phenotype; Seasons; Zinc Fingers