Suppression of phenotypes of the clock mutant early flowering 3 (elf3) by a deletion allele of fha/cry2 mutation in Arabidopsis

Abstract

EARLY FLOWERING 3 (ELF3) plays key roles in the control of light response, organ elongation, flowering time and circadian rhythms in Arabidopsis. ELF3 does not show significant homology to any other proteins in the public databases. Therefore biochemical function of the ELF3 has not been well understood.
To understand molecular mechanisms underlying the variety of phenotypes in the elf3 mutants, suppressors of elf3-1 were screened , using the elf3-1 seeds mutagenized with heavy ion beams. Here we demonstrate that early flowering, small cotyledon and pale green phenotypes of elf3-1 were suppressed in one of the suppressor lines, S#20, whereas long hypocotyl phenotype was enhanced. The recessive suppressor mutation was named suppressor of elf3 20 (sel20) and mapped to the upper side of Ch1. We have found 21-bp deletion in the FHA/CRY2 gene in the sel20. We will discuss possible roles of CRY2 in the multiple functions of ELF3.