The mango vascular plant one-zinc finger 1 A/1B (VOZ1A/1B) and VOZ2 transcription factors promoted earlier flowering in transgenic Arabidopsis
摘要
Flowering marks the critical transition from vegetative to reproductive growth in plants. In this work, three vascular plant one-zinc finger (VOZ) genes, namely, MiVOZ1A, MiVOZ1B and MiVOZ2, were identified from mango (Mangifera indica). The expression levels of the three MiVOZs increased after salt and drought treatment, increased during the vegetative period, and then decreased during the floral induction period. MiVOZ1A and MiVOZ1B were expressed mainly in adult stems, leaves and juvenile stems, but MiVOZ2 was mainly had high expression in juvenile buds and adult stems. The expression levels of CONSTANS (AtCO) and FLOWERING LOCUS T (AtFT) increased and that of FLOWERING LOCUS C (AtFLC) decreased in the MiVOZ transgenic Arabidopsis lines, resulting in an earlier flowering phenotype under long-day (LD) and short-day (SD) conditions. However, the overexpression of MiVOZ reduced the tolerance of the transgenic Arabidopsis to salt and drought stress. In addition, the interaction between MiVOZ proteins and CONSTANS-Like 16 (MiCOL16) proteins in mango was confirmed in vivo via yeast two-hybrid (Y2H) assays and bimolecular fluorescence complementation (BiFC). This work demonstrated the functions of MiVOZ1A, MiVOZ1B and MiVOZ2 and provided a basis for further research on the regulation of mango flowering and molecular genetic breeding.