Identification of Sugar Beet Flowering Genes Based on Arabidopsis Homologous Gene

Abstract

Transition from vegetative to reproductive growth is an important stage in plant’s life. Flowering pathways including photoperiod, vernaliza tion, gibberellins, and autonomous pathway are regulated by different genes. Identific ation of flowering genes is essential for the development of bolting-resistant sugar beet cul tivars. In this study, a set of 118 Arabidopsis thaliana genes involved in flowering time control were used as a reference to identify homologous counterparts in Expressed Seque nce Tags (ESTs) and Transcriptome Shotgun Assembly (TSA) sequence of sugar beet. Base d on obtained ESTs, primers were designed for Suppressor of Frigida 4 ( SUF4) , Curly Leaf (CLF), Constitutive Photomorphogenesis1 (COP1), and Cycling Dof Factor (CDF) genes. SUF4 and CLF are components of vernalization pathway and COP1 and CDF are in photoperiod pathway. The sequence regions of these genes were amplified using cDNA PCR technique, and compared with other identified sequences in Gene Ba nk. Four genes namely CLF, COP1, CDF and SUF4 were deposited in Gene Bank. Results showed that m ost of the flowering pathway genes in Arabidopsis are detectable in sugar beet which can be contribu ted to the understanding of the genetic control of bolting res istance. Keywords: Bioinformatic, Expressed sequence tags, Flowering genes, Shotgun Assembly sequences, Sugar beet, Transcriptom