PubMed Health⌕ Search

SEARCH · PubMed Health

Results for “CONSTANS”

Explore indexed PubMed citations for clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health research. Read source abstracts and follow each citation to its original PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 109 records · Page 6Linked to original sources

Distinct roles of GIGANTEA in promoting flowering and regulating circadian rhythms in Arabidopsis.

The circadian clock acts as the timekeeping mechanism in photoperiodism. In Arabidopsis thaliana, a circadian clock-controlled flowering pathway comprising the genes GIGANTEA (GI), CONSTANS (CO), and FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT) promotes flowering specifically under long days. Within this pathway, GI regulates circadian rhythms and flowering and acts earlier in the hierarchy than CO and FT, suggesting that GI might regulate flowering indirectly by affecting the control of circadian rhythms. We studied the relationship between the roles of GI in flowering and the circadian clock using late elongated hypocotyl circadian clock associated1 double mutants, which are impaired in circadian clock function, plants overexpressing GI (35S:GI), and gi mutants. These experiments demonstrated that GI acts between the circadian oscillator and CO to promote flowering by increasing CO and FT mRNA abundance. In addition, circadian rhythms in expression of genes that do not control flowering are altered in 35S:GI and gi mutant plants under continuous light and continuous darkness, and the phase of expression of these genes is changed under diurnal cycles. Therefore, GI plays a general role in controlling circadian rhythms, and this is different from its effect on the amplitude of expression of CO and FT. Functional GI:green fluorescent protein is localized to the nucleus in transgenic Arabidopsis plants, supporting the idea that GI regulates flowering in the nucleus. We propose that the effect of GI on flowering is not an indirect effect of its role in circadian clock regulation, but rather that GI also acts in the nucleus to more directly promote the expression of flowering-time genes.

Arabidopsis↗

The Arabidopsis SOMATIC EMBRYOGENESIS RECEPTOR-LIKE KINASE1 protein complex includes BRASSINOSTEROID-INSENSITIVE1.

Arabidopsis thaliana SOMATIC EMBRYOGENESIS RECEPTOR-LIKE KINASE1 (SERK1) is a leucine-rich repeat receptor-like kinase (LRR-RLK) involved in the acquisition of embryogenic competence and in male sporogenesis. To determine the composition of the SERK1 signaling complex in vivo, we generated plants expressing the SERK1 protein fused to cyan fluorescent protein under SERK1 promoter control. The membrane receptor complex was immunoprecipitated from seedlings, and the coimmunoprecipitating proteins were identified using liquid chromatography/matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight/mass spectrometry of the trypsin-released peptides. This approach identified two other LRR-RLKs, the BRASSINOSTEROID-INSENSITIVE1 (BRI1) receptor and its coreceptor, the SERK3 or BRI1-ASSOCIATED KINASE1 protein. In addition, KINASE-ASSOCIATED PROTEIN PHOSPHATASE, CDC48A, and 14-3-3nu were found. Finally, the MADS box transcription factor AGAMOUS-LIKE15 and an uncharacterized zinc finger protein, a member of the CONSTANS family, were identified as part of the SERK1 complex. Using blue native gel electrophoresis, we show that SERK1 and SERK3 are part of BRI1-containing multiple protein complexes with relative masses between 300 and 500 kD. The SERK1 mutant allele serk1-1 enhances the phenotype of the weak BRI1 allele bri1-119. Collectively, these results suggest that apart from SERK3, SERK1 is also involved in the brassinolide signaling pathway.

Arabidopsis↗

Independent ancient polyploidy events in the sister families Brassicaceae and Cleomaceae.

Recent studies have elucidated the ancient polyploid history of the Arabidopsis thaliana (Brassicaceae) genome. The studies concur that there was at least one polyploidy event occurring some 14.5 to 86 million years ago (Mya), possibly near the divergence of the Brassicaceae from its sister family, Cleomaceae. Using a comparative genomics approach, we asked whether this polyploidy event was unique to members of the Brassicaceae, shared with the Cleomaceae, or an independent polyploidy event in each lineage. We isolated and sequenced three genomic regions from diploid Cleome spinosa (Cleomaceae) that are each homoeologous to a duplicated region shared between At3 and At5, centered on the paralogs of SEPALLATA (SEP) and CONSTANS (CO). Phylogenetic reconstructions and analysis of synonymous substitution rates support the hypothesis that a genomic triplication in Cleome occurred independently of and more recently than the duplication event in the Brassicaceae. There is a strong correlation in the copy number (single versus duplicate) of individual genes, suggesting functionally consistent influences operating on gene copy number in these two independently evolving lineages. However, the amount of gene loss in Cleome is greater than in Arabidopsis. The genome of C. spinosa is only 1.9 times the size of A. thaliana, enabling comparative genome analysis of separate but related polyploidy events.

Arabidopsis↗

The Arabidopsis SPA1 gene is required for circadian clock function and photoperiodic flowering.

Arabidopsis phytochrome A (phyA) regulates not only seed germination and seedling de-etiolation but also circadian rhythms and flowering time in adult plants. The SUPPRESSOR OF PHYA-105 (SPA1) acts as a negative regulator of phyA-mediated de-etiolation of young seedlings, but its roles in adult plants have not yet been described. Here, we show that SPA1 is involved in regulating circadian rhythms and flowering time in plants. Under constant light, the abundance of SPA1 protein exhibited circadian regulation, whereas under constant darkness, SPA1 protein levels remained unchanged. These results indicate that the SPA1 protein is controlled by the circadian clock and light signals. In addition, the spa1-3 mutation slightly shortened the circadian period of CCA1, TOC1/PRR1 and SPA1 transcript accumulation under constant light. Phenotypic analysis showed that the spa1-3 mutant flowers early under short-day (SD) but not long-day (LD) conditions. Consistent with this finding, transcripts encoding flowering locus T (FT), which promotes flowering, increased in spa1-3 under only SD conditions, although the CONSTANS (CO) transcript level was not affected under either SD nor LD conditions. Our results indicate that SPA1 not only negatively controls phyA-mediated signaling in seedlings, but also regulates circadian rhythms and flowering time in plants.

Arabidopsis↗

Mul-PheG2P: decoupled learning and prediction-space fusion enables robust and interpretable multi-phenotype genomic prediction.

Genomic prediction of multiple phenotypes is crucial in modern plant breeding; however, existing methods struggle with negative transfer and lack interpretability, particularly across high-dimensional small-sample data and diverse species. To address this, we propose Mul-PheG2P, a novel paradigm based on decoupled learning and predictive space fusion. It employs a two-stage design: first training phenotype-specific encoders using genetic data, then decoupling phenotype-specific learning from cross-phenotype aggregation via an interpretable prediction layer. Mul-PheG2P outperforms existing methods across diverse crop datasets, including maize (Zea mays), wheat (Triticum aestivum), and tomato (Solanum lycopersicum). It provides a multi-scale interpretability chain: at the macro level, it quantifies phenotypic contributions via attention-based weighting; at the micro level, Integrated Gradients reveal the genetic basis of predictions. Notably, the model successfully identified the CCT (CONSTANS, CO-like, and TOC) motif regulating photoperiodism and the SQUAMOSA (SQUAMOSA promoter binding protein) promoter for inflorescence development, confirming its ability to capture functional biological mechanisms. These results highlight the high performance and interpretability of Mul-PheG2P, showcasing its value for low-cost, large-scale screening to advance precision breeding.

Phenotype↗

Nitric oxide represses the Arabidopsis floral transition.

The correct timing of flowering is essential for plants to maximize reproductive success and is controlled by environmental and endogenous signals. We report that nitric oxide (NO) repressed the floral transition in Arabidopsis thaliana. Plants treated with NO, as well as a mutant overproducing NO (nox1), flowered late, whereas a mutant producing less NO (nos1) flowered early. NO suppressed CONSTANS and GIGANTEA gene expression and enhanced FLOWERING LOCUS C expression, which indicated that NO regulates the photoperiod and autonomous pathways. Because NO is induced by environmental stimuli and constitutively produced, it may integrate both external and internal cues into the floral decision.

Arabidopsis↗

FD, a bZIP protein mediating signals from the floral pathway integrator FT at the shoot apex.

FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT) is a conserved promoter of flowering that acts downstream of various regulatory pathways, including one that mediates photoperiodic induction through CONSTANS (CO), and is expressed in the vasculature of cotyledons and leaves. A bZIP transcription factor, FD, preferentially expressed in the shoot apex is required for FT to promote flowering. FD and FT are interdependent partners through protein interaction and act at the shoot apex to promote floral transition and to initiate floral development through transcriptional activation of a floral meristem identity gene, APETALA1 (AP1). FT may represent a long-distance signal in flowering.

Arabidopsis↗

The pseudo-response regulator Ppd-H1 provides adaptation to photoperiod in barley.

Plants commonly use photoperiod (day length) to control the timing of flowering during the year, and variation in photoperiod response has been selected in many crops to provide adaptation to different environments and farming practices. Positional cloning identified Ppd-H1, the major determinant of barley photoperiod response, as a pseudo-response regulator, a class of genes involved in circadian clock function. Reduced photoperiod responsiveness of the ppd-H1 mutant, which is highly advantageous in spring-sown varieties, is explained by altered circadian expression of the photoperiod pathway gene CONSTANS and reduced expression of its downstream target, FT, a key regulator of flowering.

Alleles↗

A pair of related genes with antagonistic roles in mediating flowering signals.

Flowering in Arabidopsis is promoted via several interacting pathways. A photoperiod-dependent pathway relays signals from photoreceptors to a transcription factor gene, CONSTANS (CO), which activates downstream meristem identity genes such as LEAFY (LFY). FT, together with LFY, promotes flowering and is positively regulated by CO. Loss of FT causes delay in flowering, whereas overexpression of FT results in precocious flowering independent of CO or photoperiod. FT acts in part downstream of CO and mediates signals for flowering in an antagonistic manner with its homologous gene, TERMINAL FLOWER1 (TFL1).

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Activation tagging of the floral inducer FT.

FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT), which acts in parallel with the meristem-identity gene LEAFY (LFY) to induce flowering of Arabidopsis, was isolated by activation tagging. Like LFY, FT acts partially downstream of CONSTANS (CO), which promotes flowering in response to long days. Unlike many other floral regulators, the deduced sequence of the FT protein does not suggest that it directly controls transcription or transcript processing. Instead, it is similar to the sequence of TERMINAL FLOWER 1 (TFL1), an inhibitor of flowering that also shares sequence similarity with membrane-associated mammalian proteins.

Alleles↗

Cloning of the Arabidopsis clock gene TOC1, an autoregulatory response regulator homolog.

The toc1 mutation causes shortened circadian rhythms in light-grown Arabidopsis plants. Here, we report the same toc1 effect in the absence of light input to the clock. We also show that TOC1 controls photoperiodic flowering response through clock function. The TOC1 gene was isolated and found to encode a nuclear protein containing an atypical response regulator receiver domain and two motifs that suggest a role in transcriptional regulation: a basic motif conserved within the CONSTANS family of transcription factors and an acidic domain. TOC1 is itself circadianly regulated and participates in a feedback loop to control its own expression.

Amino Acid Motifs↗

Seasonal control of tuberization in potato: conserved elements with the flowering response.

Fluctuations in day length determine the time to flower in many plants and in potato are critical to promote differentiation of tubers. Day length is perceived in the leaves and under inductive conditions these synthesize a systemic signal that is transported to the underground stolons to induce tuber development. Flowering tobacco shoots grafted into potato stocks promote tuberization in the stocks, indicating that the floral and tuber-inducing signals might be similar. We describe recent progress in the identification of the molecular mechanisms underlying day-length recognition in potato. Evidence has been obtained for a conserved function of the potato orthologs of the CONSTANS (CO) and FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT) proteins in tuberization control under short days (SDs). These observations indicate that common regulatory pathways are involved in both flowering and tuberization photoperiodic responses in plants.

Flowers↗

Group-specific component (Gc) 'subtypes' of Gc1 by isoelectric focusing in US blacks and whites.

Isoelectric focusing was applied to the Gc polymorphism. In agreement with Constans et al., we found two common 'subtypes' of Gc1 that could not be identified by conventional electrophoretic procedures. They are labeled Gc1F and Gc1S. Gc1F has a slightly lower isoelectric point than Gc1S. In groups of US blacks the allele frequencies were for Gc1F; 0.732 and for Gc1S; 0.147. In whites these figures were 0.149 and 0.572. We also found GcAb in blacks with a frequency of 0.015. The concentrations in serum of Gc protein as measured by radial immunodiffusion did not differ according to phenotype.

Adolescent↗

Potent induction of Arabidopsis thaliana flowering by elevated growth temperature.

The transition to flowering is an important event in the plant life cycle and is modulated by several environmental factors including photoperiod, light quality, vernalization, and growth temperature, as well as biotic and abiotic stresses. In contrast to light and vernalization, little is known about the pathways that mediate the responses to other environmental variables. A mild increase in growth temperature, from 23 degrees C to 27 degrees C, is equally efficient in inducing flowering of Arabidopsis plants grown in 8-h short days as is transfer to 16-h long days. There is extensive natural variation in this response, and we identify strains with contrasting thermal reaction norms. Exploiting this natural variation, we show that FLOWERING LOCUS C potently suppresses thermal induction, and that the closely related floral repressor FLOWERING LOCUS M is a major-effect quantitative trait locus modulating thermosensitivity. Thermal induction does not require the photoperiod effector CONSTANS, acts upstream of the floral integrator FLOWERING LOCUS T, and depends on the hormone gibberellin. Analysis of mutants defective in salicylic acid biosynthesis suggests that thermal induction is independent of previously identified stress-signaling pathways. Microarray analyses confirm that the genomic responses to floral induction by photoperiod and temperature differ. Furthermore, we report that gene products that participate in RNA splicing are specifically affected by thermal induction. Above a critical threshold, even small changes in temperature can act as cues for the induction of flowering. This response has a genetic basis that is distinct from the known genetic pathways of floral transition, and appears to correlate with changes in RNA processing.

Arabidopsis↗

[Cause-effect modeling as a general method of description and study of phenomena in complex hierarchical systems].

The definition of the cause-effect model of a phenomenon and the rules of presenting these models in the form of cause-effect diagrams have been formulated. The relationship between cause-effect modeling and traditional methods of mathematical modeling has been analyzed. Examples of cause-effect models (diagrams) of phenomena of different physical nature are given, and the application of these models in studies of some problems is demonstrated. In particular, the mechanism of renormalizing the rate constans of chemical reactions in terms of dissipative resonance is considered. In addition, the renormalization of the climate sensitivity parameters and the relaxation time of the Earth climate system in terms of the two-component (CO2 + H2O) greenhouse effect is considered.

Ecology↗

[Nuclear magnetic resonance study of the conformation of nucleotides, oligonucleotides and their analogs. III. The sin-anti-equibrium in the solution of cytidine and 2'-deoxycytidine].

The method for determination of apparent rotation correlation time (tau c) on the basis of measurements of the spin-lattice relaxation rates of H(1') of the pyrimidine nucleosides and nucleotides both ribo- and deoxy-series after exchange of H(5) and H(6) on deuterium has been proposed. The recently suggested simple method of tau c calculation from H(5) relaxation rate was shown to lead to correct results. For cytidine and 2'-deoxycytidine the sin-anti-equilibrium constans in aqueous solutions were obtained. The anti-states were favorable in both cases. The long range coupling constant 5J1'5 corroborated the quantitative appreciation from the spin-lattice relaxation rates. The correction properties of the apparent rotation correlation time calculated by the proposed method are discussed.

Cytidine↗

[Avidity criteria in assessing the functional activity of antigens, antibodies and non-specific serum inhibitors on a model of the kinetic reaction of hemagglutination suppression with arboviruses].

The functional activity of some arboviruses of groups A and B, of the antibodies and serum inhibitors was studied on a model of the kinetic hemagglutination inhibition test (HAI) by different avidity criteria (velocity, completeness and stability of formation of a neutral complex). The avidity indices of the antigens, antibodies and the inhibitors proved to depend on the group, species and strain peculiarities of the arboviruses, the method of preparation of the antigen, the biological species of the donor of the immune and normal blood sera, the method of treatment of the sera and a number of other factors. There proved to be no constan-correlation between the avidity of the strain and the avidity of the serum immune to it. Inhibitors of the normal rabbit and human sera were not less effective in comparison with the specific antibodies to a number of viral strains of tick-borne encephalitis and Japanese encephaliti or even exceeded them by the avidity indices to the antigens in the HAI test. The most active (functionally) strains can be recommended for obtaining high-quality viral (antigenic and serum) preparations.

Animals↗

Aspartate aminotransferase of Pediococcus cerevisiae.

A five-step procedure is described for preparing highly purified aspartate aminotransferase (L-aspartate: 2-oxoglutarate aminotransferase, EC.2.6.1.1) from cell-freee enzyme extracts of Pediococcus cerevisiae. An overall purification of 130-fold was achieved. Some of P. cerevisiae aspartate aminotransferase properties were studied, i.s. pH optimum (7.8--8.0), optimum of temperature (37 degrees), Michaelis constans for 4 enzyme substrates and substrate specificity of enzyme. The enzyme is very thermolabile. During purification the enzyme was stabilizated by 2-oxoglutarate. The highly purified preparation was stored in the solution containing ammonium sulphate. The obtained aspartate aminotransferase preparation was free of alanine and aromatic amino acids aminotransferase activites and did not reveal malate dehydrogenase activity.

Aspartate Aminotransferases↗