Biologia plantarum 2010, 54:639-646 | DOI: 10.1007/s10535-010-0114-z

Ectopic over-expression of two apple Flowering Locus T homologues, MdFT1 and MdFT2, reduces juvenile phase in Arabidopsis

W. M. Li1,2, Y. Tao1, Y. X. Yao1, Y. J. Hao1, C. X. You1,*
1 State Key Laboratory of Crop Biology and College of Horticulture Science and Engineering, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai-An, Shandong, P.R. China
2 South Subtropical Crop Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Science, Zhanjiang, P.R. China

To get insight into mechanism by which apple tree (Malus domestica Borkh.) regulates flowering, two apple flowering locus T (FT) homologues, MdFT1 and MdFT2, were isolated from the leaf cDNAs of cultivar Gala. The open reading frames (ORFs) of two MdFTs encoded 174 amino acids. The deduced amino acid sequence of MdFT1 and MdFT2 showed 94.3 % similarity to each other, while 72.6 and 76.0 % to AtFT protein, respectively. Semi-quantitative RT-PCR indicated their specific expression in leaves. Visualization of MdFT2-GFP fusion protein demonstrated its localization on membrane. Ectopic overexpression of either MdFT1 or MdFT2 in Arabidopsis significantly induced early flowering by activating the downstream flowering-related genes.

Keywords: apple florigen; early flowering; RT-PCR
Subjects: amino acid sequences; apple; flowering; Malus domestica; phylogenetic relationship; polymerase chain reaction (PCR); proteins; transgenic plants; UPGMA dengrogram

Received: April 18, 2009; Accepted: December 5, 2009; Published: December 1, 2010Show citation

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Li, W.M., Tao, Y., Yao, Y.X., Hao, Y.J., & You, C.X. (2010). Ectopic over-expression of two apple Flowering Locus T homologues, MdFT1 and MdFT2, reduces juvenile phase in Arabidopsis. Biologia plantarum, 54(4), 639-646. doi: 10.1007/s10535-010-0114-z.
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