Redundant enhancers mediate transcriptional repression of AGAMOUS by APETALA2

Abstract

The floral homeotic gene AGAMOUS specifies stamen and carpel fate in the central whorls of Arabidopsis flowers. Transcription of AGAMOUS RNA is restricted to the center of developing flowers by several, partially redundant negative regulators, one of which is the homeotic gene APETALA2. We have identified regulatory elements that mediate transcriptional repression of AGAMOUS by APETALA2 and found that several redundant elements respond independently to loss of APETALA2 activity. Thus, redundancy at the level of cis-regulatory sequences is independent of redundancy at the level of trans-regulators. We have also found that only the early, but not the late, effects of APETALA2 on AGAMOUS require the meristem-identity protein LEAFY, a positive regulator of AGAMOUS.