Dataset Information

Control of axillary bud initiation and shoot architecture in Arabidopsis through the SUPERSHOOT gene.

ABSTRACT: The aerial architecture of flowering plants is determined to a large extent by shoot growth and shoot branching arising from the initiation and growth of axillary meristems. We have identified an Arabidopsis mutant, supershoot (sps), which is characterized by a massive overproliferation of shoots, such that a single plant can generate 500 or more inflorescences. Analysis of the mutant plants shows that the primary defect is because of an increase in the number of meristems formed in leaf axils, together with release of bud arrest, resulting in reiterative branch formation from rosette and cauline leaves. The SPS gene is shown here to encode a cytochrome P450, and together with a 3- to 9-fold increase in levels of Z-type cytokinins in sps mutant plants, indicate a role for SPS in modulating hormone levels. The expression pattern of SPS, with strong expression at the leaf axils, correlates well with the phenotypic defects. Our results indicate that control of shoot branching in Arabidopsis may be accomplished in part by suppression of axillary meristem initiation and growth through the localized attenuation of cytokinin levels at sites of bud initiation.

SUBMITTER: Tantikanjana T

PROVIDER: S-EPMC312715 | biostudies-literature | 2001 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Control of axillary bud initiation and shoot architecture in Arabidopsis through the SUPERSHOOT gene.

Tantikanjana T T Yong J W JW Letham D S DS Griffith M M Hussain M M Ljung K K Sandberg G G Sundaresan V V

Genes & development 20010601 12

The aerial architecture of flowering plants is determined to a large extent by shoot growth and shoot branching arising from the initiation and growth of axillary meristems. We have identified an Arabidopsis mutant, supershoot (sps), which is characterized by a massive overproliferation of shoots, such that a single plant can generate 500 or more inflorescences. Analysis of the mutant plants shows that the primary defect is because of an increase in the number of meristems formed in leaf axils, ...[more]

PMID: 11410537

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Project description:Aims: To determine the changes in the Arabidopsis axillary bud transcriptome in response to changes in the red light (R) to far red light (FR) ratio (R:FR). Background: The branching habit of plants is a key determinant of overall plant form and function with great relevance to modern agriculture. Shade signals transduced by phytochromes are major regulators of axillary bud outgrowth, and in turn control branching in both natural and agricultural environments. To continue our investigations into the regulation of branching by R:FR, we have developed a system using supplemental FR LEDs to tightly control the outgrowth of Arabidopsis axillary buds. Depending on the position of the bud in the rosette, outgrowth is either repressed (uppermost bud) or rapidly promoted (bud in the axil of the third leaf down) by the transition from low to high R:FR. Treatment: Two separate experiments were conducted to evaluate the effects of R:FR on transcriptome changes in the uppermost rosette bud (bud n) and the axillary bud in the axil of the third leaf from the top (bud n-2). WT Col-60000 was used as the experimental material. Plants were grown individually in 25 by 50 mm tubes and watered and fertilized optimally. Plants were grown in a split growth chamber (providing uniform temperature and PPFD but allowing for differential R:FR) with 18 h photoperiods (185 Moles m-2 s-1 PPFD provided by T12 VHO CW fluorescent lamps) and 24oC/18oC day/night temperatures. One day after sowing, the R:FR was reduced on both sides of the chamber from 3.5 to 0.08 using FR LEDs fixed in clear overhead arrays. Prior to anthesis, the plants were matched and split into two treatment groups. In experiment 1, the FR source for one of the groups was switched off at 12:00 pm on the day of anthesis, causing the R:FR to increase to 3.5. Unelongated axillary buds in the axil of the uppermost leaves (approx. 2.5 mm long) were harvested for RNA preparation from both groups (low and transiently increased R:FR) 3 h after changing the R:FR. Each treatment was composed of three biological replicates, each containing buds from about 15-18 plants. Experiment 2 was conducted exactly the same as experiment 1, except the R:FR was altered 3 days after anthesis and the unelongated axillary buds in the axils of the third leaves down (approx. 1 mm long) were harvested for RNA preparation.

Project description:One of the main outcomes of quantitative genetics approaches to natural variation is to reveal the genetic architecture underlying the phenotypic space. Complex genetic architectures are described as including numerous loci (or alleles) with small-effect and/or low-frequency in the populations, interactions with the genetic background, environment or age. Linkage or association mapping strategies will be more or less sensitive to this complexity, so that we still have an unclear picture of its extent. By combining high-throughput phenotyping under two environmental conditions with classical QTL mapping approaches in multiple Arabidopsis thaliana segregating populations as well as advanced near isogenic lines construction and survey, we have attempted to improve our understanding of quantitative phenotypic variation. Integrative traits such as those related to vegetative growth used in this work (highlighting either cumulative growth, growth rate or morphology) all showed complex and dynamic genetic architecture with respect to the segregating population and condition. The more resolutive our mapping approach, the more complexity we uncover, with several instances of QTLs visible in near isogenic lines but not detected with the initial QTL mapping, indicating that our phenotyping accuracy was less limiting than the mapping resolution with respect to the underlying genetic architecture. In an ultimate approach to resolve this complexity, we intensified our phenotyping effort to target specifically a 3Mb-region known to segregate for a major quantitative trait gene, using a series of selected lines recombined every 100kb. We discovered that at least 3 other independent QTLs had remained hidden in this region, some with trait- or condition-specific effects, or opposite allelic effects. If we were to extrapolate the figures obtained on this specific region in this particular cross to the genome- and species-scale, we would predict hundreds of causative loci of detectable phenotypic effect controlling these growth-related phenotypes.

Dataset Information

Control of axillary bud initiation and shoot architecture in Arabidopsis through the SUPERSHOOT gene.

Publications

Control of axillary bud initiation and shoot architecture in Arabidopsis through the SUPERSHOOT gene.

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