Analysis of a candidate gene for the control of floral heteromorphy in Primula vulgaris

Kent, Olivia (2016) Analysis of a candidate gene for the control of floral heteromorphy in Primula vulgaris. Doctoral thesis, University of East Anglia.

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Abstract

Primula vulgaris is a model species for the study of heterostyly, and displays two floral
morphologies, pin and thrum, which show a reciprocal arrangement of the anthers and
stigma. The differences in floral morphology are controlled by the S locus, which consists
of several closely linked genes.
One of the first genes to be identified as part of the S locus was GLOT, a paralogue of
GLOBOSA. Preliminary results have shown that GLOT expression is confined to the
second and third floral whorls of thrum flowers. In pin flowers, where GLOT is not
expressed, the anthers are lowered. This study involves characterisation of the
expression dynamics of GLOT in comparison to its paralogue GLO, in the context of the
recent discovery that the S locus is hemizygous and not heterozygous as previously
thought.
The selection of normalisation genes for qPCR was conducted, and the temporal
expression of both GLO and GLOT was measured across bud development; the genes
showed different expression patterns. RNA in situ hybridisation was then used to assess
spatial expression of both genes in floral meristems, with GLO showing defined
localisation within the developing second and third whorls and GLOT showing more
dispersed expression.
The interactions of P. vulgaris GLO and GLOT proteins with A. thaliana MADS box
proteins were tested in Yeast 2-Hybrid experiments, and while GLO showed
interactions with the orthologue of its partner, AP3, GLOT did not show interactions
with any of the other proteins tested. Antibodies were designed against peptide
sequences to assess protein localisation for use in future experiments.
This work has furthered knowledge on the expression patterns of these genes, the
divergence of GLOT from GLO, and has generated tools that will enable further analyses
of the differences between these two genes.

Item Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Science > School of Biological Sciences
Depositing User:	Jackie Webb
Date Deposited:	13 Feb 2017 13:59
Last Modified:	28 Feb 2018 01:38
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/62473
DOI:

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