CRITIQUE

PAPER

Camille A. Bardelosa

General Botany
Jeruel B. Rubas
December 16, 2021
 Differential Expression of Genes Important for Adaptation in Capsella bursa-pastoris

(Brassicaceae) is a research article authored by Slotte et. al. discussing the differences in gene

expression between two pairs of early- and late-flowering C. bursa-pastoris accessions. They

compared the plant's response to vernalization to identify the pathways that control the plant's

natural flowering time variation. Vernalization is the process of artificially exposing plants to

cold temperatures in order to stimulate flowering or increase seed production.

Although genetic studies of flowering time regulation have greatly enhanced

molecular and developmental biology, evolutionary biology has received less attention

despite the equally significant contribution genetic studies have made to flowering time

diversity. Since flowering time is a complex, environmentally responsive trait with important

implications for plant fitness, crop yield, and reproductive isolation. Research into its genetic

architecture and molecular basis continue to yield novel insights into our understanding of

domestication, adaptation, and speciation (Gaudinier and Blackman, 2019).

According to Schiess et al., reproduction must coincide with favorable environmental

conditions for a species to survive. For plants, timing of reproduction is mainly governed by

flowering time regulation. The two main factors that trigger flowering are prolonged cold (the

vernalization pathway) and increasing day length (the photoperiod pathway), especially in

temperate regions. "There was a significant correlation between flowering time and latitude,

but not between flowering time and longitude," Slotte et al. revealed.   This clinal variation

could indicate that flowering time evolved as an adaptation to, for example, photoperiod. This

is proven true because according to Shim, Kubota, and Imaizumi (2017), plants sense

changes in day length (photoperiod) as a reliable seasonal cue to regulate important

developmental transitions such as flowering. Plants can precisely measure photoperiod

changes in the surrounding environment by integrating various external light information into

the circadian clock-controlled mechanisms. It is critical for reproductive success to time the
floral transition correctly. It can also have an impact on the early development of offspring.

Plants constantly monitor changes in their surroundings in order to optimize this timing.

The experiment's details regarding flowering time variation were discussed in the

article, allowing readers to examine it and gain insights into gene expression. Based on these

results, genes involved in the regulation of the circadian clock, such as CCA1 and TOC1, are

strong candidates for the evolution of adaptive flowering time variation in C. bursa-pastoris.

CCA1 is a component of a negative autoregulatory feedback loop that is in sync with daily

environmental changes. The Arabidopsis central oscillator contains several proteins that

repress genes encoding each other in order to create the negative feedback loop required to

generate circadian rhythms that control many clock outputs. This oscillator relies heavily on

CCA1. Its transcription is induced by light, and mRNA levels peak at dawn, along with Late

Elongated Hypocotyl (LHY). TOC1, one of five pseudo-response regulators (PRR) that

mediate the period of the circadian clock in plants, is encoded by the gene. The TOC1 protein

is a repressilator that directly inhibits transcription of the morning loop genes LHY and

CCA1 in the clock's evening loop. The Toc1 gene is found on chromosome 5 and is

expressed in almost all plant structures and cells.

References

Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia (2018, December 14). vernalization. Encyclopedia

Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/vernalization

Fujiwara S, Wang L, Han L, Suh SS, Salomé PA, McClung CR, Somers DE (August
2008). "Post-translational regulation of the Arabidopsis circadian clock through
selective proteolysis and phosphorylation of pseudo-response regulator proteins ". J.
Biol. Chem. 283 (34): 23073–83. doi:10.1074/jbc.M803471200. PMID 18562312.

Gaudinier, A. and Blackman, B.K. (2020), Evolutionary processes from the perspective of
flowering time diversity. New Phytol, 225: 1883-1898. https://doi.org/10.1111/
nph.16205
Hemmes, H., and R., Jang. (2016). "Circadian Clock Regulates Dynamic Chromatin
Modifications Associated with Arabidopsis CCA1/LHY and TOC1 Transcriptional
Rhythms" Plant and Cell Physiology Vol. 53(12).
“Locus: AT5G61380”. The Arabidopsis Information Resource. The Ohio State University.
Retrieved December 14, 2021, from AT5G61380(TOC1) (arabidopsis.org)
Schiess, S.V., Quezada-Martinez, D., Tebartz, E. et al. (2019). The vernalization
regulator FLOWERING LOCUS C is differentially expressed in biennial and
annual Brassica napus. Sci Rep 9, 14911. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-
51212-x
Shim, J. S., Kubota, A., & Imaizumi, T. (2017). Circadian Clock and Photoperiodic
Flowering in Arabidopsis: CONSTANS Is a Hub for Signal Integration. Plant
physiology, 173(1), 5–15. https://doi.org/10.1104/pp.16.01327