Pod corn is caused by rearrangement at the Tunicate1 locus

Han, J. J., Jackson, D., Martienssen, R. (July 2012) Pod corn is caused by rearrangement at the Tunicate1 locus. The Plant cell, 24 (7). pp. 2733-44. ISSN 1532-298X (Electronic)1040-4651 (Linking)

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Abstract

Pod corn (Zea mays var tunicata) was once regarded as ancestral to cultivated maize, and was prized by pre-Columbian cultures for its magical properties. Tunicate1 (Tu1) is a dominant pod corn mutation in which kernels are completely enclosed in leaflike glumes. Here we show that Tu1 encodes a MADS box transcription factor expressed in leaves whose 5' regulatory region is fused by a 1.8-Mb chromosomal inversion to the 3' region of a gene expressed in the inflorescence. Both genes are further duplicated, accounting for classical derivative alleles isolated by recombination, and Tu1 transgenes interact with these derivative alleles in a dose-dependent manner. In young ear primordia, TU1 proteins are nuclearly localized in specific cells at the base of spikelet pair meristems. Tu1 branch determination defects resemble those in ramosa mutants, which encode regulatory proteins expressed in these same cells, accounting for synergism in double mutants discovered almost 100 years ago. The Tu1 rearrangement is not found in ancestral teosinte and arose after domestication of maize.

Item Type: Paper
Subjects: bioinformatics > genomics and proteomics > genetics & nucleic acid processing
bioinformatics > genomics and proteomics > genetics & nucleic acid processing > protein structure, function, modification
organism description > plant
bioinformatics > genomics and proteomics > genetics & nucleic acid processing > protein structure, function, modification > protein types
bioinformatics > genomics and proteomics > genetics & nucleic acid processing > protein structure, function, modification > protein types > transcription factor
bioinformatics > genomics and proteomics > genetics & nucleic acid processing > transgenic plants
CSHL Authors:
Communities: CSHL labs > Jackson lab
CSHL labs > Martienssen lab
CSHL Post Doctoral Fellows
Depositing User: Matt Covey
Date: July 2012
Date Deposited: 30 Jan 2013 20:08
Last Modified: 05 Jun 2013 19:53
PMCID: PMC3426111
Related URLs:
URI: https://repository.cshl.edu/id/eprint/26954

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