Open Access
ARTICLE
Overexpression of Wheat TaELF3-1BL Delays Flowering in Arabidopsis
Junsheng Sun#, Haozhen Zhang#, Mingxia Zhang, Sishen Li, Yanrong An*
State Key Laboratory of Crop Biology, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai’an, 271018, China
* Corresponding Author: Yanrong An. Email:
# These authors contributed equally to this paper
(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Plant Omics in Challenging Environment)
Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany 2023, 92(1), 79-90. https://doi.org/10.32604/phyton.2022.022225
Received 28 February 2022; Accepted 21 April 2022; Issue published 06 September 2022
Abstract
EARLY FLOWERING 3 (
ELF3), a light zeitnehmer (time-taker) gene, regulates circadian rhythm and photoperiodic flowering in Arabidopsis, rice, and barley. The three orthologs of
ELF3 (
TaELF3-1AL,
TaELF3-1BL, and
TaELF3-1DL) have been identified in wheat too, and one gene,
TaELF3-1DL, has been associated with heading
date. However, the basic characteristics of these three genes and the roles of the other two genes,
TaELF3-1BL
and,
TaELF3-1AL, remain unknown. Therefore, the present study obtained the coding sequences of the three
orthologs (
TaELF3-1AL,
TaELF3-1BL, and
TaELF3-1DL) of
ELF3 from bread wheat and characterized them
and investigated the role of
TaELF3-1BL in Arabidopsis. Protein sequence comparison revealed similarities among
the three
TaELF3 genes of wheat; however, they were different from the Arabidopsis
ELF3. Real-time quantitative
PCR revealed
TaELF3 expression in all wheat tissues tested, with the highest expression in young spikes; the three
genes showed rhythmic expression patterns also. Furthermore, the overexpression of the
TaELF3-1BL gene in
Arabidopsis delayed flowering, indicating their importance in flowering. Subsequent overexpression of
TaELF3-1BL in the Arabidopsis
ELF3 nonfunctional mutant (
elf3 mutant) eliminated its early flowering phenotype, and slightly delayed flowering. The wild-type Arabidopsis overexpressing
TaELF3-1BL demonstrated
reduced expression levels of flowering-related genes, such as
CONSTANS (
AtCO),
FLOWERING LOCUS T (
AtFT),
and
GIGANTEA (
AtGI). Thus, the study characterized the three
TaELF3 genes and associated
TaELF3-1BL with
flowering in Arabidopsis, suggesting a role in regulating flowering in wheat too. These findings provide a basis for
further research on
TaELF3 functions in wheat.
Keywords
Cite This Article
Sun, J., Zhang, H., Zhang, M., Li, S., An, Y. (2023). Overexpression of Wheat
TaELF3-1BL Delays Flowering in Arabidopsis.
Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany, 92(1), 79–90. https://doi.org/10.32604/phyton.2022.022225