Members of the EPIDERMAL PATTERNING FACTOR-LIKE (EPFL) family play diverse roles in plant growth and development, including the guidance of inflorescence architecture and pedicel length. In this work, we identified and characterized the EFPL gene TaEPFL1 from the wheat pistillody mutant HTS-1. Sequence alignment and phylogenetic analysis indicated that TaEPFL1 belongs to the EPFL1 gene. Quantitative real-time RT-PCR analysis showed that the TaEPFL1 gene is expressed at an abnormally high level in pistillody stamens compared with that in pistils and stamens. Heterologous expression of the TaEPFL1 gene in Arabidopsis caused shortened filaments and pedicels and might reduce the level of AtACO2 gene expression. These results suggest that TaEPFL1 plays an important role in the development of stamen and that overexpression of TaEPFL1 results in abnormal stamens. We deduced that the overexpression of the TaEPFL1 gene may contribute to the homeotic transformation of stamens into pistils or pistil-like structures in wheat. These data offer insights into the molecular mechanism of pistillody mutation in wheat.

中文翻译：

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TaEPFL1 是一种表皮模式因子样 (EPFL) 分泌肽基因，是小麦雄蕊发育所必需的

表皮模式因子样 (EPFL) 家族的成员在植物生长和发育中发挥多种作用，包括花序结构和花梗长度的指导。在这项工作中，我们从小麦雌蕊突变体 HTS-1 中鉴定并表征了 EFPL 基因 TaEPFL1。序列比对和系统发育分析表明，TaEPFL1 属于 EPFL1 基因。实时定量RT-PCR分析表明，与雌蕊和雄蕊相比，TaEPFL1基因在雌蕊雄蕊中的表达水平异常高。TaEPFL1 基因在拟南芥中的异源表达导致花丝和花梗缩短，并可能降低 AtACO2 基因的表达水平。这些结果表明 TaEPFL1 在雄蕊发育中起重要作用，TaEPFL1 的过度表达会导致雄蕊异常。我们推断 TaEPFL1 基因的过表达可能有助于小麦雄蕊向雌蕊或雌蕊样结构的同源转化。这些数据提供了对小麦雌蕊突变分子机制的见解。