Abstract
In Arabidopsis, transcription of FT is induced in leaves under inductive long days, while FT protein is transported to the shoot apex and interacts with a bZIP transcription factor, FD, to promote flowering. Although changes in various parts of the plant take place after floral transition, how FT is involved in these changes is largely unknown. Previous genetic analyses suggest that some factors interacting with FT other than FD are required for FT to promote flowering. We demonstrated that FT protein interacts with several TCP proteins by using yeast two-hybrid assay and BiFC assay in tobacco leaves. TCP transcription factors are involved in various developmental processes such as cell division, leave morphogenesis, lateral bud development. Therefore it is likely that FT modulates the activity of these TCP transcription factors to affect developmental/physiological changes associated with flowering. Results of tcp mutants analysis will be presented.
