Functional importance of conserved domains in the flowering-time gene CONSTANS demonstrated by analysis of mutant alleles and transgenic plants

CONSTANS promotes flowering of Arabidopsis in response to long-day conditions. We show that CONSTANS is a member of an Arabidopsis gene family that comprises 16 other members. The CO-Like proteins encoded by these genes contain two segments of homology: a zinc finger containing region near their amino terminus and a CCT (CO, CO-Like, TOC1) domain near their carboxy terminus. Analysis of seven classical co mutant alleles demonstrated that the mutations all occur within either the zinc finger region or the CCT domain, confirming that the two regions of homology are important for CO function. The zinc fingers are most similar to those of B-boxes, which act as protein-protein interaction domains in several transcription factors described in animals. Segments of CO protein containing the CCT domain localize GFP to the nucleus, but one mutation that affects the CCT domain delays flowering without affecting the nuclear localization function, suggesting that this domain has additional functions. All eight co alleles, including one recovered by pollen irradiation in which DNA encoding both B-boxes is deleted, are shown to be semidominant. This dominance appears to be largely due to a reduction in CO dosage in the heterozygous plants. However, some alleles may also actively delay flowering, because overexpression from the CaMV 35S promoter of the co-3 allele, that has a mutation in the second B-box, delayed flowering of wild-type plants. The significance of these observations for the role of CO in the control of flowering time is discussed.

Analysis of flowering time control in Arabidopsis by comparison of double and triple mutants

Three genetic pathways promote flowering of Arabidopsis under long photoperiods. These pathways are represented by the genes CO, FCA, and GA1, which act in the long-day, autonomous, and gibberellin pathways, respectively. To test whether these are the only pathways that promote flowering under long photoperiods, the co-2 fca-1 ga1-3 triple mutant was constructed. These plants never flowered under long- or short-day conditions, indicating that the three pathways impaired by these mutations are absolutely required for flowering under these conditions. The triple mutant background represents a "vegetative ground state" enabling the roles of single pathways to be described in the corresponding double mutants. The phenotypes of plants carrying all eight combinations of wild-type and mutant alleles at the three loci were compared under long- and short-day conditions. This analysis demonstrated that under long photoperiods the long-day pathway promoted flowering most effectively, whereas under short photoperiods the gibberellin pathway had the strongest effect. The autonomous pathway had a weak effect when acting alone under either photoperiod but appeared to play an important role in facilitating the promotion of flowering by the other two pathways. The vegetative phenotype of the triple mutant could be overcome by vernalization, suggesting that a fourth pathway promoted flowering under these conditions. These observations are discussed in light of current models describing the regulation of flowering time in Arabidopsis.

Response of plant development to environment: control of flowering by daylength and temperature

The transition from vegetative growth to flowering is often controlled by environmental conditions and influenced by the age of the plant. Intensive genetic analysis has identified pathways that regulate flowering time of Arabidopsis in response to daylength or low temperature (vernalization). These pathways are proposed to converge to regulate the expression of genes that act within the floral primordium and promote floral development. In the past year, genes that confer the responses to daylength or vernalization have been cloned and have enabled aspects of the genetic models to be tested at the molecular level.