Subfamily Gene From Regulates Early Flowering and Seed Development.

The evolution of herbicide resistance in weedy plants leads to various adaptation traits including flowering time and seed germination. In our previous studies, we found an association of the early flowering phenotype with the ACCase inhibitor herbicide resistance genotype in a population of . MADS-box transcription factors are known to play pivotal roles in regulating plant flowering time. In this study, a ()like gene, belonging to the subfamily in the MADS-box family, was cloned from the early flowering population (referred to as ) and resistant to the herbicide clodinafop- propargyl. Overexpression of the -like gene in resulted in early flowering and seed abortion. This is consistent with the phenotypic characters of resistant plants, but contrary to the conventional role of genes that usually suppress flowering. In addition, down regulation of the seed formation gene in flowers of transgenic Arabidopsis plants indicates that may be indirectly associated with seed viability. Furthermore, one protein (PfMADS2) from the () subfamily interacting with in was identified with relevance to flowering time regulation. These results suggest that the gene is an early flowering regulation gene associated with seed formation and viability in resistant population. Our study provides potential application of for integrated weed management (such as genetic-based weed control strategies) aiming to reduce the soil weed seedbank.