Abstract
Cyclamen (Cyclamen persicum Mill.) is a main horticultural plant, and we have been developing for breeding cyclamens based on molecular genetics. It is important to elucidate the exact mechanisms regulating flower formation for the modification of flower traits. AGAMOUS (AG) proteins, which are an important transcription factor for pattern formation of the floral organs, play a role in specification of stamen and carpel.
We isolated the two kinds of AG homolog genes (CpAG1 and CpAG2) in cyclamen and performed functional analysis of these genes. Our results suggested, despite their high sequence similarity, CpAG1 functions in stamens while CpAG2 have acts in carpels. To clarify the function of two types of CpAG transcription factors, we transformed a chimeric repressor gene construct for CpAG1 and CpAG2 into Arabidopsis and cyclamen. We show here that the function of two cyclamen AGAMOUS genes are different.
