Grégoire Denay
Roles of LEAFY and its target genes in the regulation of floral meristem in Arabidopsis
Published on 28 November 2016
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Thesis presented November 28, 2016
Abstract:
Plants have the capacity to continuously produce organs throughout their life because they maintain stem-cell containing structures called meristems. The formation of flowers is an essential step of the plant’s life-cycle. In order to ensure flower development a new meristem must be formed within the young flower bud. Various data across the literature indicate that the transcription factor LEAFY is involved flower meristem formation in addition to its role as a master regulator of flower identity.
In the first part of this work we explore the role of LEAFY in the initiation of flower meristem. This study focuses on a LEAFY target gene, the transcription factor REGULATOR OF AXILLARY MERISTEMS1. We show that the LEAFY pathways acts in parallel of the transcription factor REVOLUTA to allow flower meristem formation.
In the second part of this work we study the properties of the N-terminal domain of LEAFY. This domain mediates LEAFY oligomerization and potentially its binding to closed chromatin regions. We also study in a more prospective manner the role of this domain in the regulation of AGAMOUS, an important regulator of flower development.
Keywords:
LEAFY, transcription factors, floral development, stem cell, meristem
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