Poster: Reproductive Development
Abs #
487: Identification of second site modifier mutations of elf3 through activation tagging
The control of floral initiation in Arabidopsis thaliana is a complex pathway regulated in part by photoperiod. A number of components of the photoperiodic floral induction pathway have been identified through mutagenesis screens. ELF3 is necessary for proper photoperiodic control of flowering and may gate light signals to the circadian oscillator (1). elf3-1 null alleles exhibit photoperiod insensitive early flowering and altered photomorphogenesis while elf3-7 alleles exhibit early flowering and altered photomorphogenesis, but maintain photoperiod sensitivity. In order to identify new components of the photoperiodic floral induction pathway that function with or downstream of ELF3, we have performed an activation tagging screen. We screened for mutations that either act as suppressors of the elf3-1 phenotype or as enhancers of the elf3-7 phenotype. To date, five putative suppressors of the elf3-1 phenotype and four putative enhancers of the elf3-7 phenotype have been identified. Genomic sequence flanking T-DNA insertion site has been identified for two of the putative elf3-7 enhancers through TAIL-PCR. We are continuing our screen in order to identify more mutants as well as attempting to characterize several mutations already identified. We will report on the progress of our screen and our efforts in characterization of several mutants.
1. Hamaya, R., and G Coupland. 2003. Shedding light on the circadian clock and the photoperiodic control of flowering. Current Opinion in Plant Biology. 6:13-19.
