1. Redundant and Specific Roles of Individual MIR172 Genes in Plant Development
- Author
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Ó’Maoiléidigh, Diarmuid S., van Driel, Annabel D., Singh, Anamika, Sang, Qing, Le Bec, Nolwenn, Vincent, Coral, de Olalla, Enric Bertran Garcia, Vayssières, Alice, Romera Branchat, Maida, Severing, Edouard, Martinez Gallegos, Rafael, and Coupland, George
- Subjects
0106 biological sciences ,0301 basic medicine ,Leaves ,Physiology ,Arabidopsis ,Plant Science ,01 natural sciences ,Genome ,Biochemistry ,Meristems ,Genome editing ,Gene Expression Regulation, Plant ,Arabidopsis thaliana ,Gene Regulatory Networks ,Biology (General) ,Flowering Plants ,Regulation of gene expression ,biology ,General Neuroscience ,Plant Anatomy ,food and beverages ,Eukaryota ,Trichomes ,Plants ,Phenotype ,Nucleic acids ,Phenotypes ,Experimental Organism Systems ,Plant Physiology ,General Agricultural and Biological Sciences ,Research Article ,QH301-705.5 ,Arabidopsis Thaliana ,Photoperiod ,Meristem ,Plant Development ,Computational biology ,Brassica ,Flowers ,N-Acetylglucosaminyltransferases ,Research and Analysis Methods ,General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology ,03 medical and health sciences ,Model Organisms ,Plant and Algal Models ,Genetics ,Humans ,Family ,Non-coding RNA ,Gene ,Homeodomain Proteins ,Natural antisense transcripts ,General Immunology and Microbiology ,Biology and life sciences ,Arabidopsis Proteins ,fungi ,Organisms ,Computational Biology ,Stem Anatomy ,biology.organism_classification ,Primer ,Gene regulation ,MicroRNAs ,030104 developmental biology ,Shoot Apical Meristem ,Animal Studies ,RNA ,Gene expression ,010606 plant biology & botany ,Transcription Factors - Abstract
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play important roles in regulating flowering and reproduction of angiosperms. Mature miRNAs are encoded by multiple MIRNA genes that can differ in their spatiotemporal activities and their contributions to gene regulatory networks, but the functions of individual MIRNA genes are poorly defined. We functionally analyzed the activity of all 5 Arabidopsis thaliana MIR172 genes, which encode miR172 and promote the floral transition by inhibiting the accumulation of APETALA2 (AP2) and APETALA2-LIKE (AP2-LIKE) transcription factors (TFs). Through genome editing and detailed confocal microscopy, we show that the activity of miR172 at the shoot apex is encoded by 3 MIR172 genes, is critical for floral transition of the shoot meristem under noninductive photoperiods, and reduces accumulation of AP2 and TARGET OF EAT2 (TOE2), an AP2-LIKE TF, at the shoot meristem. Utilizing the genetic resources generated here, we show that the promotion of flowering by miR172 is enhanced by the MADS-domain TF FRUITFULL, which may facilitate long-term silencing of AP2-LIKE transcription, and that their activities are partially coordinated by the TF SQUAMOSA PROMOTER-BINDING-LIKE PROTEIN 15. Thus, we present a genetic framework for the depletion of AP2 and AP2-LIKE TFs at the shoot apex during floral transition and demonstrate that this plays a central role in floral induction., Flowering of plants is repressed by microRNA 172; this study shows that three genes encoding miR172 act redundantly at the shoot apex to reduce expression of the transcription factor APETALA2, a repressor of flowering. Dual repression of APETALA2 at the transcriptional level by FRUITFULL and the post-transcriptional level by miR172 enables rapid and stable transition to the reproductive state.
- Published
- 2021