Transposal Elements in Morning Glories

This is for the experts here but I think it refers to the transposal elements (flakes etc) in morning glories

Here is the link as credit goes to these people -

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15493332?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DiscoveryPanel.Pubmed_Discovery_RA&linkpos=4&log$=relatedreviews&logdbfrom=pubmed

Iida S, Morita Y, Choi JD, Park KI, Hoshino A.

National Institute for Basic Biology, Myodaiji, Okazaki, Aichi 444-8585, Japan. shigiida@nibb.ac.jp

Among the genus Ipomoea, three morning glories, I. nil (the Japanese morning glory), I. purpurea (the common morning glory), and I. tricolor, were domesticated well for floricultural plants, and many spontaneous mutants displaying various flower pigmentation patterns were isolated. Most of these spontaneous mutations were found to be caused by the insertion of DNA transposable elements in the genes for the anthocyanin pigmentation in flowers, and many of them exhibited variegated flowers, such as white flowers with pigmented spots and sectors. Here, we describe the historical background of the mutants displaying variegated flowers and review the genetic and epigenetic regulation in flower pigmentation associated with transposable elements of these morning glories. The flecked, speckled, r-1, and purple mutations in I. nil were caused by insertions of Tpn1 and its relatives in the En/Spm superfamily, Tpn2, Tpn3, and Tpn4, into the genes for anthocyanin coloration in flowers, i.e., DFR-B, CHI, CHS-D, and InNHX1, respectively. Similarly, the flaked and pink mutants of I. purpurea have distantly related elements, Tip100 and Tip201, in the Ac/Ds superfamily inserted into the CHS-D and F3'H genes, respectively. The flower variegation patterns can be determined by the frequency and timing of the excision of these transposons, and their stable insertions produce plain color flowers without generating pigmented spots or sectors; furthermore, both genetic and epigenetic regulation appeared to play important roles in determining the frequency and timing of the excision of the transposons. However, flower variegation is not always associated with the excision of an integrated DNA transposon from one of the genes for anthocyanin pigmentation. The mutant Flying Saucers of I. tricolor displaying variegated flowers was found to have the transposon ItMULE1 inserted into the DFR-B promoter region, but no excision of ItMULE1 from the DFR-B could be detected in the variegated flower lines. The instable pearly-vrg allele in cv. Flying Saucers is likely to be an epiallele because the DNA methylation in the DFR-B promoter appeared to be associated with flower pigmentation.

I need to revisit a basic genetics textbook to be better able to understand what they are saying.

Hello,

If you would like to read more about Ipomoea purpureas and the flaked variety, I have composed a little note for myself:
http://davesgarden.com/community/blogs/t/evr/11848/

just scroll all the way down to my April 20, 2009 entry named "Corolla Colour"

It's a bit simplified and not at the molecular level, but the information that you have provided, I will also take note on my blog and I thank you for this additional information

Eliz

This message was edited Jul 8, 2009 12:15 PM

Awesome! Eliz, are you aware of any literature pertaining to leaf variegation genetics in Ipomoea purpurea?

thanks joseph! i've never seen a literature about leaf variegation on I. purpurea yet...interesting topic. I've seen none also on I. purpurea var. diversifolia. With the "var." attached to the name, it must be occuring in the wild, but there are no documented populations on it though as far as I know...