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JXB Advance Access originally published online on January 31, 2008
Journal of Experimental Botany 2008 59(2):247-259; doi:10.1093/jxb/erm305
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© 2008 The Author(s).
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/uk/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. This paper is available online free of all access charges (see http://jxb.oxfordjournals.org/open_access.html for further details)

RESEARCH PAPER

Quantitative expression analysis of the ABC genes in Sophora tetraptera, a woody legume with an unusual sequence of floral organ development

Jiancheng Song1,2, John Clemens1,2 and Paula Elizabeth Jameson1,*

1School of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand
2Institute of Molecular BioSciences, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: paula.jameson{at}canterbury.ac.nz

Sophora is a woody genus of the Leguminosae in which an unusual order and process of floral organ development is often observed. The SEM results for Sophora tetraptera revealed precocious initiation of the carpel, delayed development of petals, and floral organ development interrupted by an unusual prolonged summer–autumn dormant period which occurred between organ initiation and organ differentiation. These observations provided an opportunity to track key floral identity genes over an extended developmental period. Homologues of LEAFY, APETALA1, PISTILLATA, and AGAMOUS were isolated from S. tetraptera. Real-time PCR enabled a simultaneous and quantitative analysis of both the temporal and spatial expression patterns of these four genes. Expression differences in the range of three to five orders of magnitude were detected between different genes and between different stages of flower development for the same gene. Although not functionally tested, the spatial expression patterns of the genes were consistent with expectations based on the ABC model of floral development. Their temporal expression patterns were consistent with the timing of flower initiation and the unusual order of organ development. Quantitatively, while the expression levels of the LFY homologue and the A-class gene were high during the periods of organ initiation and organ differentiation and low during the summer–autumn dormant period, high expression levels of the B- and C-class genes were detected only during the rapid, albeit delayed, phase of organ differentiation. Additionally, the sustained expression of the floral organ identity genes after differentiation reflects on-going roles for these genes during subsequent organ development.

Key words: Floral identity genes, floral ontogeny, legume, quantitative expression, qRT-PCR, real-time PCR, Sophora

Received 17 September 2007; Revised 5 November 2007 Accepted 7 November 2007


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