The EMBO Journal
 
Advanced search
Journal home
Aims and scope
Current issue
Advance Online Publication
Web Focuses
Archive:-
Browse by issue
Browse by subject
Browse by category
Free online sample issue
Press releases
Authors & Referees
Editorial process
Guide for authors
Submit an article
Guide for referees
Editorial Team, Senior Advisors and Advisory Editorial Board
Contact Editorial office
Customer services
Subscribe
Order sample copy
Purchase articles
Reprints and permissions
Contact NPG
Advertising
EMBO
www.embo.org
Article
Subject Categories: RNA | Plant Biology
The EMBO Journal (2003) 22, 3142–3152, doi:10.1093/emboj/cdg305
Autoregulation of FCA pre-mRNA processing controls Arabidopsis flowering time
Victor Quesada2, Richard Macknight3, Caroline Dean1 and Gordon G. Simpson4
1 Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, John Innes Centre, Norwich NR4 7UH, UK
2 Present address: Division de Genetica, Departamento de Biologia Aplicada, Universidad Miguel Hernandez, Campus de Elche, Edificio Vinalopo, 03202 Elche, Alicante, Spain
3 Present address: Department of Biochemistry, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin, New Zealand
4 Present address: Gene Expression Programme, Scottish Crop Research Institute, Invergowrie, Dundee DD2 5DA, UK

To whom correspondence should be addressed
Gordon G. Simpson, gordon.simpson@scri.sari.ac.uk

Received 11 September 2002; Revised 16 April 2003; Accepted 28 April 2003.
Abstract
The timing of the transition to flowering is critical for reproductive success in plants. Arabidopsis FCA encodes an RNA-binding protein that promotes flowering. FCA expression is regulated through alternative processing of its pre-mRNA. We demonstrate here that FCA negatively regulates its own expression by ultimately promoting cleavage and polyadenylation within intron 3. This causes the production of a truncated, inactive transcript at the expense of the full-length FCA mRNA, thus limiting the expression of active FCA protein. We show that this negative autoregulation is under developmental control and requires the FCA WW protein interaction domain. Removal of introns from FCA bypasses the autoregulation, and the resulting increased levels of FCA protein overcomes the repression of flowering normally conferred through the up-regulation of FLC by active FRI alleles. The negative autoregulation of FCA may therefore have evolved to limit FCA activity and hence control flowering time.
Keywords: Arabidopsis, autoregulation, FCA, flowering, polyadenylation
Send to a friendEmail link to a friend
PDFDownload PDF
Full textFull text
Next article
Previous article
Table of contents
rights and permissionsRights and permissions
order commercial reprintsReprints
ToC alertRegister for table of contents by email
  Privacy policy Copyright © 2003 by the European Molecular Biology Organization