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A QTL for flowering time in Arabidopsis reveals a novel allele of CRY2

Nature Genetics volume 29, pages 435–440 (2001)Cite this article

An Erratum to this article was published on 01 January 2002

Abstract

Variation of flowering time is found in the natural populations of many plant species. The underlying genetic variation, mostly of a quantitative nature, is presumed to reflect adaptations to different environments contributing to reproductive success. Analysis of natural variation for flowering time in Arabidopsis thaliana has identified several quantitative trait loci (QTL)1, which have yet to be characterized at the molecular level. A major environmental factor that determines flowering time is photoperiod or day length, the length of the light period, which changes across the year differently with geographical latitude2. We identified the EDI locus as a QTL partly accounting for the difference in flowering response to the photoperiod between two Arabidopsis accessions: the laboratory strain Landsberg erecta (Ler), originating in Northern Europe, and Cvi, collected in the tropical Cape Verde Islands3. Positional cloning of the EDI QTL showed it to be a novel allele of CRY2, encoding the blue-light photoreceptor cryptochrome-2 that has previously been shown to promote flowering in long-day (LD) photoperiods4. We show that the unique EDI flowering phenotype results from a single amino-acid substitution that reduces the light-induced downregulation of CRY2 in plants grown under short photoperiods, leading to early flowering.

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Figure 1: Map-based isolation of the Arabidopsis EDI/CRY2 locus.
Figure 2: Early flowering and day-length insensitivity of CRY2-Cvi.
Figure 3: Comparison of CRY2 protein sequences.
Figure 4: Analysis of CRY2 expression.
Figure 5: Blue-light effect on hypocotyl elongation.

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Acknowledgements

We wish to thank A. Miller for providing transgenic seeds expressing the CAB:LUC constructs, J. Jarillo for providing CRY2 cDNA, W. Soppe for his continuous help and support, J. Weller for his assistance in the blue-light experiments and for critical reading of the manuscript, H.H. Offenberg and S. van der Krol for their assistance in developing anti-CRY2 and in the luciferase measurements, respectively, and M. Schreuder and C. Hanhart for help with the light cabinets and greenhouse work. This work was supported by a predoctoral fellowship from the government of Egypt to S.E.-D.E.-A.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Genetics, Wageningen University, Dreijenlaan 2, HA, 6703, Wageningen

    Salah El-Din El-Assal, Carlos Alonso-Blanco, Anton J.M. Peeters, Vered Raz & Maarten Koornneef

  2. The Graduate School–Experimental Plant Sciences, The Netherlands

    Salah El-Din El-Assal, Carlos Alonso-Blanco, Anton J.M. Peeters, Vered Raz & Maarten Koornneef

  3. Centro Nacional de Biotecnologia, Campus Universidad Autonoma, Cantoblanco, 28049, Madrid, Spain

    Carlos Alonso-Blanco

  4. Department of Plant Ecophysiology, Utrecht University, Sorbonnelaan 16, CA, 3584, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Anton J.M. Peeters

  5. Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Wageningen University, Dreijenlaan 3, HA, 6703, Wageningen, The Netherlands

    Vered Raz

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  1. Salah El-Din El-Assal
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Correspondence to Maarten Koornneef.

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El-Din El-Assal, S., Alonso-Blanco, C., Peeters, A. et al. A QTL for flowering time in Arabidopsis reveals a novel allele of CRY2. Nat Genet 29, 435–440 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/ng767

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