Cloning and Expression Analysis of Flowering Regulation Related Genes FLC、 LFY and SOC1 of Betula platyphylla

LFY, FLC and SOC1 genes are key node genes in flowering regulation network. To characterize their function in birch, complete cDNA sequences of LFY and FLC were obtained from transcriptome datas of Betula platyphylla, named BpLFY and BpLFY, respectively. BpLFY was 1215bp in length, encoding a protein of 405 amino acid residues with the molecular mass of 45.3 kD. The length of BpLFY gene cDNA was 627 bp, encoding 209 amino acid residues with the molecular mass of 114kD, the two genes belonged to FLOLFY and MADS superfamily, respectively. Analysis of promoters of these genes showed that promoters of all these genes contained two cisacting elements of pollen specific expression. In different tissues (shoot tip, leaf, male inflorescence and axillary), gene expression of BpLFY, BpFLC and BpSOC1 genes were investigated by using realtime quantitative RTPCR. The results showed that BpSOC1 and BpFLC were expressed in various tissues of birch, however, BpLFY was expressed only in the male inflorescence and axillary, and BpFLC can inhibit BpSOC1 expression in the leaves.