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The tropical cedar tree (Cedrela fissilis Vell., Meliaceae) homolog of the Arabidopsis LEAFY gene is expressed in reproductive tissues and can complement Arabidopsis leafy mutants

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Abstract

A homolog of FLORICAULA/LEAFY, CfLFY (for Cedrela fissilis LFY), was isolated from tropical cedar. The main stages of the reproductive development in C. fissilis were documented by scanning electron microscopy and the expression patterns of CfLFY were studied during the differentiation of the floral meristems. Furthermore, the biological role of the CfLFY gene was assessed using transgenic Arabidopsis plants. CfLFY showed a high degree of similarity to other plant homologs of FLO/LFY. Southern analysis showed that CfLFY is a single-copy gene in the tropical cedar genome. Northern blot analysis and in situ hybridization results showed that CfLFY was expressed in the reproductive buds during the transition from vegetative to reproductive growth, as well as in floral meristems and floral organs but was excluded from the vegetative apex and leaves. Transgenic Arabidopsis lfy26 mutant lines expressing the CfLFY coding region, under the control of the LFY promoter, showed restored wild-type phenotype. Taken together, our results suggest that CfLFY is a FLO/LFY homolog probably involved in the control of tropical cedar reproductive development.

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Abbreviations

FLO:

FLORICAULA

LFY:

LEAFY

CfLEAFY:

Cedrela fissilis Leafy homologue

CTAB:

Cetyl Trimethyl Ammonium Bromide

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Acknowledgements

We thank W.A. N. do Amaral (ESALQ/USP, Forestry Department) for encouraging and supporting us in the early stages of this work, E.W. Kitajima for maintaining the Electron Microscopy facility at NAP/MEPA-ESALQ/USP, F.C.A. Tavares and G. Bandel (ESALQ/USP, Genetics Department) for providing excellent research environment, TAIR and the Ohio State University for providing the Arabidopsis seeds, the staff of the Instituto de Pesquisas e Estudos Florestais (IPEF, Brazil) for their help in collecting inflorescence samples, D. Weigel (Salk Institute, La Jolla, USA) for the generous gift of plasmids pDW124, pDW132 and pSKI015. We also thank the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) for financial support.

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  1. Centro de Energia Nuclear na Agricultura. Laboratório de Biotecnologia Vegetal, Universidade de São Paulo, Av. Centenário, 303 CEP, 13400-970, Piracicaba, SP, Brazil

    Marcelo Carnier Dornelas & Adriana Pinheiro Martinelli Rodriguez

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  1. Marcelo Carnier Dornelas
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  2. Adriana Pinheiro Martinelli Rodriguez
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Correspondence to Marcelo Carnier Dornelas.

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Accession numbers: AY633621 (CfLFY gene) and AY633622 (CfLFY mRNA)

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Dornelas, M.C., Rodriguez, A.P.M. The tropical cedar tree (Cedrela fissilis Vell., Meliaceae) homolog of the Arabidopsis LEAFY gene is expressed in reproductive tissues and can complement Arabidopsis leafy mutants. Planta 223, 306–314 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-005-0086-y

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