Purugganan M D, Rounsley S D, Schmidt R J, Yanofsky M F
Department of Biology, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla 92093, USA.
Genetics. 1995 May;140(1):345-56. doi: 10.1093/genetics/140.1.345.
Floral homeotic genes that control the specification of meristem and organ identity in developing flowers have been isolated from both Arabidopsis thaliana and Antirrhinum majus. Most of these genes belong to a large family of regulatory genes and possess a characteristic DNA binding domain known as the MADS-box. Members of this gene family display primarily floral-specific expression and are homologous to transcription factors found in several animal and fungal species. Molecular evolutionary analyses reveal that there are appreciable differences in the substitution rates between different domains of these plant MADS-box genes. Phylogenetic analyses also demonstrate that members of the plant MADS-box gene family are organized into several distinct gene groups: the AGAMOUS, APETALA3/PISTILLATA and APETALA1/AGL9 groups. The shared evolutionary history of members of a gene group appear to reflect the distinct functional roles these MADS-box genes play in flower development. Molecular evolutionary analyses also suggest that these different gene groups were established in a relatively short span of evolutionary time and that the various floral homeotic loci originated even before the appearance of the flowering plants.
在拟南芥和金鱼草中，都已分离出了控制发育中的花朵分生组织和器官特征的花同源异型基因。这些基因大多属于一个大型调控基因家族，并拥有一个名为MADS框的特征性DNA结合结构域。该基因家族的成员主要表现出花特异性表达，并且与在几种动物和真菌物种中发现的转录因子同源。分子进化分析表明，这些植物MADS框基因不同结构域之间的替换率存在明显差异。系统发育分析还表明，植物MADS框基因家族的成员被组织成几个不同的基因组：AGAMOUS、APETALA3/PISTILLATA和APETALA1/AGL9组。一个基因组中成员的共同进化历史似乎反映了这些MADS框基因在花发育中所起的不同功能作用。分子进化分析还表明，这些不同的基因组是在相对较短的进化时间内形成的，并且各种花同源异型基因座甚至在开花植物出现之前就已起源。
