Dissecting the role of MADS-box genes in monocot floral development and diversity

MADS-box genes encode transcription factors in all eukaryotic organisms thus far studied. Plant MADS-box proteins contain a DNA-binding (M), an intervening (I), a Keratin-like (K) and a C-terminal C-domain, thus plant MADS-box proteins are of the MIKC type. In higher plants most of the well-characterized genes are involved in floral development. They control the transition from vegetative to generative growth and determine inflorescence meristem identity. They specify floral organ identity as outlined in the ABC model of floral development. Moreover, in Antirrhinum majus the MADS-box gene products DEF/GLO and PLE control cell proliferation in the developing flower bud. In this species the DEF/GLO and the SQUA proteins form a ternary complex which determines the overall "Bauplan" of the flower. Phylogenetic reconstructions of MADS-box sequences obtained from ferns, gymnosperms and higher eudicots reveal that, although ferns possess already MIKC type genes, these are not orthologous to the well characterized MADS-box genes from gymnosperms or angiosperms. Putative orthologs of floral homeotic B- and C-function genes have been identified in different gymnosperms suggesting that these genes evolved some 300-400 million years ago. Both gymnosperms and angiosperms also contain a hitherto unknown sister clade of the B-genes, which we termed Bsister. A novel hypothesis will be described suggesting that B and Bsister might be involved in sex determination of male and female reproductive organs, respectively.

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The Role of MADS-Box Genes in the Control of Flower and Fruit Development in Arabidopsis

Plant Biotechnology 2002 and Beyond ◽

10.1007/978-94-017-2679-5_4 ◽

2003 ◽

pp. 20-27

Author(s):

Soraya Pelaz ◽

Sarah Liljegren ◽

Adrienne Roeder ◽

Cristina Ferrándiz ◽

Anusak Pinyopich ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Fruit Development ◽

Mads Box ◽

Mads Box Genes ◽

Flower And Fruit Development

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Analyses of MADS-box Genes Suggest HvMADS56 to Regulate Lateral Spikelet Development in Barley

Plants ◽

10.3390/plants10122825 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (12) ◽

pp. 2825

Author(s):

Mohammed A. Sayed ◽

Mohamed Allam ◽

Quinn Kalby Heck ◽

Ieva Urbanavičiūtė ◽

Twan Rutten ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Flower Development ◽

Developmental Stages ◽

Mads Box ◽

Mads Box Genes ◽

Inflorescence Architecture ◽

Hordeum Vulgare L ◽

Breeding Programs ◽

Recent Interest ◽

Lateral Spikelet

MADS-box transcription factors are crucial regulators of inflorescence and flower development in plants. Therefore, the recent interest in this family has received much attention in plant breeding programs due to their impact on plant development and inflorescence architecture. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of HvMADS-box genes in lateral spikelet development in barley (Hordeum vulgare L.). A set of 30 spike-contrasting barley lines were phenotypically and genotypically investigated under controlled conditions. We detected clear variations in the spike and spikelet development during the developmental stages among the tested lines. The lateral florets in the deficiens and semi-deficiens lines were more reduced than in two-rowed cultivars except cv. Kristina. Interestingly, cv. Kristina, int-h.43 and int-i.39 exhibited the same behavior as def.5, def.6, semi-def.1, semi-def.8 regarding development and showed reduced lateral florets size. In HOR1555, HOR7191 and HOR7041, the lateral florets continued their development, eventually setting seeds. In contrast, lateral florets in two-rowed barley stopped differentiating after the awn primordia stage giving rise to lateral floret sterility. At harvest, the lines tested showed large variation for all central and lateral spikelet-related traits. Phylogenetic analysis showed that more than half of the 108 MADS-box genes identified are highly conserved and are expressed in different barley tissues. Re-sequence analysis of a subset of these genes showed clear polymorphism in either SNPs or in/del. Variation in HvMADS56 correlated with altered lateral spikelet morphology. This suggests that HvMADS56 plays an important role in lateral spikelet development in barley.

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Evolution and function of MADS-box genes involved in orchid floral development

Journal of Systematics and Evolution ◽

10.1111/jse.12010 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 52 (4) ◽

pp. 397-410 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Wen-Chieh TSAI ◽

Zhao-Jun PAN ◽

Yu-Yun HSIAO ◽

Li-Jun CHEN ◽

Zhong-Jian LIU

Keyword(s):

Floral Development ◽

Mads Box ◽

Mads Box Genes ◽

And Function

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Wheat VRN1, FUL2 and FUL3 play critical and redundant roles in spikelet development and spike determinacy

10.1101/510388 ◽

2019 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Chengxia Li ◽

Huiqiong Lin ◽

Andrew Chen ◽

Meiyee Lau ◽

Judy Jernstedt ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Basic Unit ◽

Mads Box ◽

Mads Box Genes ◽

Triple Mutant ◽

Ridge Structure ◽

Spike Development ◽

Meristem Identity ◽

Summary Statement

ABSTRACTThe spikelet is the basic unit of the grass inflorescence. In this study, we show that wheat MADS-box genes VRN1, FUL2 and FUL3 play critical and redundant roles in spikelet and spike development, and also affect flowering time and plant height. In the vrn1ful2ful3-null triple mutant, the inflorescence meristem formed a normal double-ridge structure, but then the lateral meristems generated vegetative tillers subtended by leaves instead of spikelets. These results suggest an essential role of these three genes in the determination of spikelet meristem identity and the suppression of the lower ridge. Inflorescence meristems of vrn1ful2ful3-null and vrn1ful2-null remained indeterminate and single vrn1-null and ful2-null mutants showed delayed formation of the terminal spikelet and increased number of spikelets per spike. Moreover, the ful2-null mutant showed more florets per spikelet, which together with a higher number of spikelets, resulted in a significant increase in the number of grains per spike in the field. Our results suggest that a better understanding of the mechanisms underlying wheat spikelet and spike development can inform future strategies to improve grain yield in wheat.SUMMARY STATEMENTThe wheat MADS-box proteins VRN1, FUL2 and FUL3 play critical and overlapping roles in the development of spikelets, which are the basic unit of all grass inflorescences.

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Interactions Between SQUAMOSA and SVP MADS-box Proteins Regulate Meristem Transitions During Wheat Spike Development

10.1101/2020.12.01.405779 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Kun Li ◽

Juan M. Debernardi ◽

Chengxia Li ◽

Huiqiong Lin ◽

Chaozhong Zhang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Floral Development ◽

Stem Elongation ◽

Constitutive Expression ◽

Genetic Interactions ◽

Mads Box ◽

Mads Box Genes ◽

Down Regulation ◽

Spike Development ◽

Physical Interactions ◽

Wheat Spike

ABSTRACTA better understanding of spike development can contribute to improving wheat productivity. MADS-box genes VRN1 and FUL2 (SQUAMOSA-clade) play critical and redundant roles in wheat spike and spikelet development, where they act as repressors of MADS-box genes of the SHORT VEGETATIVE PHASE (SVP) clade (VRT2, SVP1 and SVP3). Here, we show that wheat vrt2 svp1 mutants are late flowering, have shorter stems, increased number of spikelets per spike and unusual axillary inflorescences in nodes of the elongating stem. Constitutive expression of VRT2 resulted in leafy glumes and lemmas, reversion of basal spikelets to spikes, and down-regulation of MADS-genes involved in floral development. Moreover, constitutive expression of VRT2 enhanced spikelet defects of ful2, whereas vrt2 reduced vegetative characteristics in the spikelets of vrn1 ful2 mutants heterozygous for VRN-A1. These SVP-SQUAMOSA genetic interactions were paralleled by physical interactions among their encoded proteins. SVP proteins were able to reduce SQUAMOSA-SEPALLATA interactions in yeast-three-hybrid experiments. We propose that SQUAMOSA-SVP complexes act during the early reproductive phase to promote heading, formation of the terminal spikelet, and stem elongation, but that down-regulation of SVP genes is then necessary for the formation of SQUAMOSA-SEPALLATA complexes that are required for normal spikelet and floral development.

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Duplication and Diversification in the APETALA1/FRUITFULL Floral Homeotic Gene Lineage: Implications for the Evolution of Floral Development

Genetics ◽

10.1093/genetics/165.2.821 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 165 (2) ◽

pp. 821-833 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Amy Litt ◽

Vivian F Irish

Keyword(s):

Floral Development ◽

Signal Sequence ◽

Phylogenetic Analyses ◽

Sequence Divergence ◽

Mads Box ◽

Mads Box Genes ◽

C Terminus ◽

Core Eudicots ◽

Duplication Events ◽

Angiosperm Species

Abstract Phylogenetic analyses of angiosperm MADS-box genes suggest that this gene family has undergone multiple duplication events followed by sequence divergence. To determine when such events have taken place and to understand the relationships of particular MADS-box gene lineages, we have identified APETALA1/FRUITFULL-like MADS-box genes from a variety of angiosperm species. Our phylogenetic analyses show two gene clades within the core eudicots, euAP1 (including Arabidopsis APETALA1 and Antirrhinum SQUAMOSA) and euFUL (including Arabidopsis FRUITFULL). Non-core eudicot species have only sequences similar to euFUL genes (FUL-like). The predicted protein products of euFUL and FUL-like genes share a conserved C-terminal motif. In contrast, predicted products of members of the euAP1 gene clade contain a different C terminus that includes an acidic transcription activation domain and a farnesylation signal. Sequence analyses indicate that the euAP1 amino acid motifs may have arisen via a translational frameshift from the euFUL/FUL-like motif. The euAP1 gene clade includes key regulators of floral development that have been implicated in the specification of perianth identity. However, the presence of euAP1 genes only in core eudicots suggests that there may have been changes in mechanisms of floral development that are correlated with the fixation of floral structure seen in this clade.

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Genome-Wide Analysis of the MADS-Box Gene Family in Maize: Gene Structure, Evolution, and Relationships

Genes ◽

10.3390/genes12121956 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (12) ◽

pp. 1956

Author(s):

Da Zhao ◽

Zheng Chen ◽

Lei Xu ◽

Lijun Zhang ◽

Quan Zou

Keyword(s):

Transcription Factors ◽

Gene Family ◽

Floral Development ◽

Primary Root ◽

Family Members ◽

Protein Sequences ◽

Structure Evolution ◽

Mads Box ◽

Mads Box Genes ◽

Mads Box Gene

The MADS-box gene family is one of the largest families in plants and plays an important roles in floral development. The MADS-box family includes the SRF-like domain and K-box domain. It is considered that the MADS-box gene family encodes a DNA-binding domain that is generally related to transcription factors, and plays important roles in regulating floral development. Our study identified 211 MADS-box protein sequences in the Zea mays proteome and renamed all the genes based on the gene annotations. All the 211 MADS-box protein sequences were coded by 98 expressed genes. Phylogenetic analysis of the MADS-box genes showed that all the family members were categorized into five subfamilies: MIKC-type, Mα, Mβ, Mγ, and Mδ. Gene duplications are regarded as products of several types of errors during the period of DNA replication and reconstruction; in our study all the 98 MADS-box genes contained 22 pairs of segmentally duplicated events which were distributed on 10 chromosomes. We compared expression data in different tissues from the female spikelet, silk, pericarp aleurone, ear primordium, leaf zone, vegetative meristem, internode, endosperm crown, mature pollen, embryo, root cortex, secondary root, germination kernels, primary root, root elongation zone, and root meristem. According to analysis of gene ontology pathways, we found a total of 41 pathways in which MADS-box genes in maize are involved. All the studies we conducted provided an overview of MADS-box gene family members in maize and showed multiple functions as transcription factors. The related research of MADS-box domains has provided the theoretical basis of MADS-box domains for agricultural applications.

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