Universität zu Köln

Zhang, Lei ORCID: 0000-0003-2186-9285 (2017). Identification and Characterization of Genes underlying Natural variation in Flowering Time in Arabidopsis thaliana. PhD thesis, Universität zu Köln.

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Abstract

It is essential for plants to coincide their flowering with favorable conditions for production of fruits and seeds to enhance their reproductive success. Flowering at the right time requires responding to diverse range of environmental and internal signals and integrating the signals into a single decision: floral transition, the switch from vegetative to reproductive phase. The regulation of flowering time is most extensively studied in the model organism, Arabidopsis thaliana. The identified flowering time genes are integrated into six distinct but interlinked genetic pathways, known as vernalization, autonomous, photoperiod, temperature, age and hormone pathways. In addition, studies have shown links between flowering time and other factors, including sugar metabolism, nutrient availability, drought and herbivore predation. All the genetic pathways form a complex network that enable the plant to monitor its external and internal conditions, and converge the information to regulate floral integrators such as FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT), LEAFY (LFY) and SUPPRESSOR OF OVEREXPRESSION OF CO 1 (SOC1), which promote the decision to floral transition. Arabidopsis distribute across a wide range of latitude and altitude; thus face diverse environmental conditions. The regulation on flowering time reflects adaptation to the populations’ local environment; consequently, diverse natural variations exist in flowering time regulators. Quantitative trait loci (QTL) analysis is a tool frequently used to identify the genetic basis of such variation. In this chapter briefly reviews the current knowledge on the flowering time regulation and the principle of QTL analysis, which is often exploited to study the natural variation in flowering time genes.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD thesis)
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID ORCID Put Code Zhang, Lei zhang707cn@hotmail.com orcid.org/0000-0003-2186-9285 UNSPECIFIED
URN:	urn:nbn:de:hbz:38-82994
Date:	2017
Language:	English
Faculty:	Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences
Divisions:	Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences > Department of Biology > Institute for Genetics
Subjects:	Life sciences
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Keywords Language Flowering time English quantitative trait loci analysis English
Date of oral exam:	26 June 2017
Referee:	Name Academic Title Coupland, George Prof. Dr.
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	http://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/id/eprint/8299