ECE-CYC1 Transcription Factor CmCYC1a May Interact with CmCYC2 in Regulating Flower Symmetry and Stamen Development in

Overview

Journal Genes (Basel)

Publisher MDPI

Date 2025 Feb 26

PMID 40004481

Authors

Yi Yang

Ming Sun

Cunquan Yuan

Qixiang Zhang

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background: The attractive inflorescence of , its capitulum, is always composed of ray (female, zygomorphy) and disc (bisexual, actinomorphy) florets, but the formation mechanism remains elusive. The gene diversification pattern of the ECE (CYC/TB1) clade has been speculated to correlate with the capitulum. Within the three subclades of ECE, the involvement of CYC2 in defining floret identity and regulating flower symmetry has been demonstrated in many species of Asteraceae, including . Differential expression of the other two subclade genes, CYC1 and CYC3, in different florets has been reported in other Asteraceae groups, yet their functions in flower development have not been investigated.

Methods: Here, a CYC1 gene, , was isolated and its expression pattern was studied in . The function of was identified with gene transformation in and yeast two-hybrid (Y2H) assays were performed to explore the interaction between CmCYC1 and CmCYC2.

Results: was expressed at higher levels in disc florets than in ray florets and the expression of was increased in both florets during the flowering process. Overexpression of in changed flower symmetry from actinomorphic to zygomorphic, with fewer stamens. Furthermore, CmCYC1a could interact with CmCYC2b, CmCYC2d, and CmCYC2f in Y2H assays.

Conclusions: The results provide evidence for the involvement of in regulating flower symmetry and stamen development in and deepen our comprehension of the contributions of ECE genes in capitulum formation.

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