Abstract
In Arabidopsis, information from various pathways is integrated at the transcriptional regulation of floral pathway integrator genes including FT. FT encodes a protein of the PEBP/RKIP family. FT functions interdependently with another flowering regulator gene FD, which encodes a bZIP transcription factor and is expressed in shoot apex. FT is expressed in vascular tissues of cotyledons and leaves, however, when expressed in the shoot apex, FT can complement ft loss-of-function mutant phenotype. We demonstrated that FT and FD proteins interact in nucleus in transgenic Arabidopsis plants by BiFC. Furthermore, flowering of 35S::FT:GR transgenic plant was dependently promoted in dexamethasone. These results suggest that FT acts in the nucleus with FD at the shoot apex to promote flowering. We are currently screening genes of which expression is regulated by FT by microarray analysis.
