Abstract
Bolting and flowering enhance the commercial value of flowering Chinese cabbage. FLOWERING LOCUS C (FLC) and FRIGIDA (FRI) are two key flowering time genes in Arabidopsis thaliana. Here we reported on the cloning and characterization of three ‘classical’ genes from the autonomous pathway from flowering Chinese cabbage, BrcuFCA, BrcuFLD and BrcuFVE. The results of expression analysis showed BrcuFLC was a gradually up-regulated with the developmental stages. However, temporal mRNA expression of BrcuFRI, BrcuFCA, BrcuFVE, and BrcuFLD were found to follow the opposite transcription patterns. The spatial expression patterns of BrcuFCA, BrcuFLD, and BrcuFVE were similar with the highest levels in flowers, whereas the highest transcription levels of BrcuFLC occurred in leaves and stems and that of BrcuFRI in roots. We presumed that the main pathway of bolting–flowering regulation in flowering Chinese cabbage might be the autonomous pathway and different from the vernalization pathway and FRI-dependent pathway.
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Acknowledgments
This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 31360484), the Specialized Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education, People’s Republic of China (Grant No. 20133603120006), the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangxi Province, People’s Republic of China (Grant No. 20132BAB204009) and the Department of Education of Jiangxi Province, People’s Republic of China (Grant No. GJJ11084).
Conflict of interest
The authors, Xufeng Xiao, Caijun Wu, Zhiyun Xu, Yingui Yang, Shuying Fan and Heng Wang, declare that there are no conflict of interest.
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Xiao, X., Wu, C., Xu, Z. et al. Molecular cloning, characterization and expression analysis of bolting-associated genes in flowering Chinese cabbage. Genes Genom 37, 357–363 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13258-014-0264-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13258-014-0264-z