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PMID: 16732287 Published · ppublish English Journal Article Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

The PHYTOCHROME C photoreceptor gene mediates natural variation in flowering and growth responses of Arabidopsis thaliana.

Nature genetics ·Vol. 38 ·No. 6 ·2006-06-00 ·Pages 711-5

Balasubramanian S, Sureshkumar S, Agrawal M, Michael TP, Wessinger C, Maloof JN, Clark R, Warthmann N, Chory J, Weigel D

Abstract

Light has an important role in modulating seedling growth and flowering time. We show that allelic variation at the PHYTOCHROME C (PHYC) photoreceptor locus affects both traits in natural populations of A. thaliana. Two functionally distinct PHYC haplotype groups are distributed in a latitudinal cline dependent on FRIGIDA, a locus that together with FLOWERING LOCUS C explains a large portion of the variation in A. thaliana flowering time. In a genome-wide scan for association of 65 loci with latitude, there was an excess of significant P values, indicative of population structure. Nevertheless, PHYC was the most strongly associated locus across 163 strains, suggesting that PHYC alleles are under diversifying selection in A. thaliana. Our work, together with previous findings, suggests that photoreceptor genes are major agents of natural variation in plant flowering and growth response.

MeSH Terms
Arabidopsis/genetics,growth & development,physiology Flowers Genetic Variation Genome, Plant Haplotypes Phylogeny Phytochrome/genetics Quantitative Trait Loci
Chemicals
Phytochrome
Authors & Affiliations
10 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Balasubramanian Sureshkumar
Department of Molecular Biology, Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology, D-72076 Tübingen, Germany.
Sureshkumar Sridevi
Agrawal Mitesh
Michael Todd P
Wessinger Carrie
Maloof Julin N
Clark Richard
Warthmann Norman
Chory Joanne
Weigel Detlef
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Article Info
Journal
Nature genetics
Abbr.
Nat Genet
ISSN
1061-4036
DOI
10.1038/ng1818
Published
2006-06-00
Epub
2006-00-28
Pages
711-5
Language
English
Region
United States
NLM ID
9216904
PMCID
PMC1592229
Subset
IM
Grants
NIGMS NIH HHS · R01 GM062932 · United States
NIGMS NIH HHS · GM62932 · United States
Corrections
CommentIn
PMID: 16736011
External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.1038/ng1818 PMC Full Text View journal details
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