Ricerca di geni MADS in Asparagus officinalis : isolamento e caratterizzazione di quattro geni MADS coinvolti nello sviluppo dell'infiorescenza e del fiore di asparago

Asparagus officinalis is a monocoateledone dioecious species which bears male and female flowers on different individuals. In later years progress has been made in understanding the molecular factors involved in floral development. The analysis of floral mutants has elucidated some major regulatory interactions in Arabidopsis thaliana and Antirrhinum majus, two dicoat species and thus these plants these plants have become model organisms for the study of floral development. It has been proposed a model , called ABC model, that explains the floral development . In the model several genes are involved, that are members of the MADS box gene family. These genes, that codify for transcription factors, play important roles in flower development from early step of meristem identity determination to specification of identity of floral organ primordial and later stage of flower development. I describe here the isolation and characterization of four Asparagus officinalis MADS box genes: AOM1, AOM2, AOM3 and AOM4. AOM1 protein shows a big degree of similarity with AOM4 (90%). These proteins belong to E class, called SEPALLATA of ABC model. The genes of E class are involved in development of petals, stamens and carpels. AOM2 belong to C class, that acts in development of stamens and carpels. AOM3 belong to AGL6 family, the function of these genes doesn't know. The expression profile of AOM1, AOM2, AOM3 and AOM4 is the same. These genes are expressed in flowers, but also inflorescence and flower meristems.