Functional study of TCP23 in Arabidopsis thaliana during plant development

Abstract The TCP class of genes is found only in plants and is represented by the first three identified genes: teosinte branched 1 , cycloidea and pcf . Members belonging to this class are important regulators of plant growth, development and control multiple traits in diverse plant species, including flower and petal asymmetry, plant architecture, leaf morphogenesis and senescence, embryo growth and circadian rhythm. Here we described a member of the TCP-P subfamily called At TCP23. Using qRT-PCR we present evidence that At TCP23 is ubiquitously express in all organs examined. To ascertain At TCP23 localization, we fused GFP at the C-terminal position and analyzed stable expression by confocal microscopy. Transgenic lines harboring the full-length protein (OxTCP23:GFP) seems to accumulate GFP in the nucleus. In order to analyze At TCP23 function, we obtained a T-DNA insertional line and developed At TCP23 over-expression (OxTCP23) lines. Phenotypic analysis indicates that tcp23 - 1 knockout line has an early-flowering phenotype while overexpression lines (OxTCP23 and OxTCP23:eGFP) presents opposite phenotype. Besides that those lines have leaf morphology alteration, pale leaf borders and smaller roots. Thus we propose in this study that At TCP23 may be involved in flowering time control and plant development.