FLOWERING LOCUS T

Contents

FLOWERING LOCUS T is a gene identified in Arabidopsis thaliana that encodes a mobile protein central to the transition from vegetative growth to flowering. First characterized in classical genetic screens, it links environmental inputs such as day length perceived by Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew researchers and molecular outputs regulated by laboratories including Max Planck Society, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, and the John Innes Centre. The gene and its product are referenced in comparative studies by groups at institutions like Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Salk Institute, and University of Cambridge.

Discovery and genetic characterization

The gene was discovered through genetic screens for altered flowering time in Arabidopsis thaliana performed by researchers at institutions such as University of California, Davis and Institute of Plant Sciences (Paris), and reported in publications associated with Nature (journal), Science (journal), and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Early mapping placed the locus on a chromosome segment defined using markers developed at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and genotyping platforms from European Molecular Biology Laboratory. Mutant alleles showed delayed flowering similar to photoperiodic mutants described by laboratories at University of Tokyo and Max Planck Institute. Complementation tests used transgenic constructs prepared with vectors from Agrobacterium tumefaciens protocols standardized at Salk Institute.

The encoded protein belongs to a conserved small protein family with structural characterization aided by techniques from European Synchrotron Radiation Facility and cryo-EM facilities at EMBL. Structural models reference fold motifs studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and binding surfaces compared with phosphatidylethanolamine-binding proteins annotated in databases curated by National Center for Biotechnology Information. Functional assays performed in laboratories at University of California, Berkeley and John Innes Centre show that the protein acts as a florigenic mobile signal, interacting with transcriptional regulators such as those characterized by groups at University of Oxford and Yale University.

Expression profiling used techniques developed at Broad Institute and microarray platforms from Affymetrix. Gene expression is regulated in leaves by photoperiodic pathways elucidated in experiments associated with University of Cambridge and circadian regulators first described by researchers at University of Edinburgh. Transcriptional control involves factors studied by teams at Harvard University and University of California, Santa Cruz, while post-transcriptional regulation and RNA processing were investigated using methods from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and European Molecular Biology Laboratory. Environmental regulation experiments referenced protocols from John Innes Centre growth chambers and field studies at Wageningen University & Research.

The gene functions downstream of photoreceptors and circadian regulators characterized at Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research and University of Florida; it integrates signals similar to those described in classical photoperiod studies at Cornell University and University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Grafting and mobilization experiments performed by teams at ETH Zurich and RIKEN established the protein as a systemic signal traveling from leaves to the shoot apical meristem, a concept linked to developmental studies at Carnegie Institution for Science and Smithsonian Institution herbarium-based phenology research. Agricultural implications were explored in applied projects at International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center and University of California, Davis breeding programs.

The protein forms complexes with transcriptional partners and repressors characterized in interaction screens carried out at European Molecular Biology Laboratory and Max Planck Society. Downstream targets at the meristem overlap with regulators studied at University of Zurich and Stanford University, and upstream activators include components identified by labs at University of Tokyo and Peking University. Signaling studies employed biochemical assays standardized by National Institutes of Health and proteomics pipelines at Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute. Integration with hormonal pathways referenced studies from INRAE and Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Homologs and paralogs were identified in comparative genomics projects conducted by Joint Genome Institute, Ensembl, and NCBI GenBank, showing conservation across angiosperms including crops studied at International Rice Research Institute, CIMMYT, and Syngenta breeding programs. Evolutionary analyses referenced phylogenies produced by researchers at University of California, Santa Cruz and Oxford University Press compendia, with functional orthologs characterized in species examined at University of Glasgow and National Taiwan University. The gene family diversification has been discussed in reviews associated with Annual Reviews and consensus statements from consortia including Global Plant Council.

Category:Plant genes Category:Arabidopsis thaliana genes