AG Function and Interacting Genes

Pennsylvania State Univ University Park, University Park PA

Investigators

Abstract

0077832 Ma Flower development is a complex process and provides an excellent experimental system to study cellular regulatory processes. The AGAMOUS (AG) gene of the small weed Arabidopsis is an important regulator of flower development. However, the temporal requirement of AG function is still not known. In addition, the AG protein encoded by the AG gene is a member of a group of related proteins that are thought to control the expression of other genes. But the genes that are regulated by AG are not yet known. This proposal takes advantage of a plant system that carries a modified AG gene whose function can switched on after the AG protein has been synthesized. It is proposed here to use this system to determine the temporal requirement of AG function for the control of flower development. Furthermore, this system will be used to isolate target genes that are regulated by AG either directly or indirectly. A collection of genes has been generated that is enriched for AG-regulated genes. Preliminary sequence analysis indicates that about of half of the genes are not similar to known genes discovered by others, and the remainder are similar to known genes, but have not been described by others except as DNA sequences. The putative AG-regulated genes will be further studied to confirm and understand their expression patterns. A few selected representative genes will be characterized using molecular genetic methods to learn about their role in flower development. These studies will provide new insights about the control of flower development, particularly how a specific gene can regulate other genes, thereby influence cellular properties during development. Moreover, the results from these experiments should also increase our knowledge about gene regulation and development in general.