Kennedy Alice, Geuten Koen
Department of Biology, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
Front Plant Sci. 2020 Dec 22;11:617340. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2020.617340. eCollection 2020.
() is one of the best characterized genes in plant research and is integral to vernalization-dependent flowering time regulation. Yet, despite the abundance of information on this gene and its relatives in , the role genes play in other species, in particular cereal crops and temperate grasses, remains elusive. This has been due in part to the comparative reduced availability of bioinformatic and mutant resources in cereals but also on the dominant effect in cereals of the () genes on the developmental process most associated with in . The strong effect of the genes has led researchers to believe that the entire process of vernalization must have evolved separately in and cereals. Yet, since the confirmation of the existence of -like genes in monocots, new light has been shed on the roles these genes play in both vernalization and other mechanisms to fine tune development in response to specific environmental conditions. Comparisons of gene function and their genetic and epigenetic regulation can now be made between and cereals and how they overlap and diversify is coming into focus. With the advancement of genome editing techniques, further study on these genes is becoming increasingly easier, enabling us to investigate just how essential -like genes are to modulating flowering time behavior in cereals.
（）是植物研究中特征最明确的基因之一，对于依赖春化作用的开花时间调控至关重要。然而，尽管在拟南芥中关于该基因及其相关基因已有大量信息，但这些基因在其他物种，特别是谷类作物和温带禾本科植物中所起的作用仍不清楚。部分原因在于谷类作物中生物信息学和突变体资源相对较少，也在于拟南芥中（）基因对与开花最相关的发育过程在谷类作物中具有显性效应。拟南芥基因的强烈效应使研究人员认为春化作用的整个过程在拟南芥和谷类作物中必定是独立进化的。然而，自从在单子叶植物中证实了类拟南芥基因的存在后，这些基因在春化作用以及其他响应特定环境条件来微调发育的机制中所起的作用有了新的认识。现在可以对拟南芥和谷类作物中拟南芥基因的功能及其遗传和表观遗传调控进行比较，它们如何重叠和分化正逐渐成为焦点。随着基因组编辑技术的进步，对这些基因的进一步研究变得越来越容易，使我们能够研究类拟南芥基因对调节谷类作物开花时间行为有多重要。
