METHODS AND MEANS FOR CONTROL OF FLOWERING IN PLANTS

Abstract: The EARLY SHORT DAYS 4 gene ESD4 of Arabidopsis thaliana, and homologues from other species, and manipulation and use thereof in plants to influence a flowering characteristic of the plants, especially timing of flowering.

Description: METHODS AND MEANS FOR CONTROL OF FLOWERING IN PLANTS This invention relates to the genetic control of flowering in plants and the cloning and expression of genes involved therein. More particularly, the invention relates to the cloning and expression of the EARLY SHORT DAYS 4 gene of Arabidopsis thaliana , and homologues from other species, and manipulation and use of these genes in plants. Efficient flowering in plants is important, particularly when the intended product is the flower or the seed produced therefrom. One aspect of this is the timing of flowering: advancing or retarding the onset of flowering can be useful to farmers and seed producers . An understanding of the genetic mechanisms which influence flowering provides a means for altering the flowering characteristics of the target plant. Species for which flowering is important to crop production are numerous, essentially all crops which are grown from seed, with important examples being the cereals, rice and maize, probably the most agronomically important in warmer climatic zones, and wheat, barley, oats and rye in more temperate climates. Important seed products are oil seed rape and canola, sugar beet, maize, sunflower, soybean and sorghum. Many crops which are harvested for their roots or leaves are, of course, grown annually from seed and the production of seed of any kind is very dependent upon the ability of the plant to flower, to be pollinated and to set seed. Delaying flowering is important in increasing the yield of plants from which the roots or leaves are harvested. In horticulture, control of the timing of flowering is important. Horticultural plants whose flowering may be controlled include lettuce, endive, spinach and vegetable brassicas including cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower, and carnations and geraniums. Arabidopsis thaliana is a facultative long day plant, flowering early under long days and late under short days. Because it has a small, well-characterized genome, is relatively easily transformed and regenerated and has a rapid growing cycle, Arabidopsis is an ideal model plant in which to study flowering and its control. The present inventors have discovered that one of the genes that regulates flowering time in Arabidopsis is a gene termed the EARLY SHORT DAYS 4 or ESD4 gene. The present inventors have found that plants carrying a recessive mutation affecting the ESD4 gene flower earlier than their wild-types under long and short days. The ESD4 gene has now been cloned and sequenced and the inventors have demonstrated that the mutation is a deletion removing part of the gene. This provides indication that reducing or abolishing ESD4 function accelerates flowering, and therefore that the ESD4 gene likely encodes a repressor of flowering. According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided a nucleic acid molecule including a nucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide with ESD4 function. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that "ESD4 function" may be used to refer to the ability to influence the timing of flowering phenotypically when its expression is reduced like the ESD4 gene of Arabidopsis thaliana. esd4 mutants exhibit early flowering under long and short days, the timing of flowering being substantially unaffected by vernalisation. The present invention provides a nucleic acid isolate encoding a polypeptide including the amino acid sequence shown in Figure 1, which may include the coding sequence shown in Figure 1 which is that of the ESD4 gene of Arabidopsis thaliana . Figure 2 shows a genomic sequence including nucleotides encoding the polypeptide for which the amino acid sequence is shown in Figure 1. Nucleic acid according to the present invention may have the sequence of an ESD4 gene of Arabidopsis thaliana, or be a mutant, variant, derivative or allele or a homologue of the sequence provided. Preferred mutants, variants, derivatives and alleles are those which encode a protein which retains a functional characteristic of the protein encoded by the wild-type gene, especially the ability to affect a physical characteristic of a plant, such as a flowering characteristic, especially the ability to repress flowering as discussed herein. A mutant, variant, derivative or allele in accordance with the present invention may have the ability to affect a physical characteristic of a plant, particularly a flowering characteristic. In various embodiments a mutant, variant, derivative or allele represses flowering compared with wild- type on expression in a plant, e.g. compared with the effect obtained using a gene sequence encoding the polypeptide of Figure 1. "Repression" of flowering delays, retards, inhibits or slows it down. In other embodiments, a mutant, variant, derivative or allele promotes flowering compared with wild-type on expression in a plant, e.g. compared with the effect obtained using a gene sequence encoding the polypeptide of Figure 1. "Promotion" of flowering advances, accelerates or brings it forward. Comparison of effect on flowering or other characteristic may be performed in Arabidopsis thaliana, although nucleic acid according to the present invention may be used in the production of a wide variety of plants and for influencing a characteristic thereof . As discussed further below, over-expression of nucleic acid according to the present invention may delay flowering while under expression may promote flowering in a transgenic plant . Changes to a sequence, to produce a mutant, variant or derivative, may be by one or more of addition, insertion, deletion or substitution of one or more nucleotides in the nucleic acid, leading to the addition, insertion, deletion or substitution of one or more amino acids in the encoded polypeptide. Of course, changes to the nucleic acid which make no difference to the encoded amino acid sequence are included. A preferred nucleic acid sequence for an ESD4 gene including a coding sequence according to the present invention is shown in Figure 1, along with the predicted amino acid sequence of a polypeptide according to the present invention which has ESD4 function. A mutant, allele, variant or derivative amino acid sequence in accordance with the present invention may include within the sequence shown in Figure 1, a single amino acid change with respect to the sequence shown in Figure 1, or 2 , 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, or 9 changes, about 10, 15, 20, 30, 40 or 50 changes, or greater than about 50, 60, 70, 80 or 90 changes. In addition to one or more changes within the amino acid sequence shown in Figure 1, a mutant, allele, variant or derivative amino acid sequence may include additional amino acids at the C-terminus and/or N-terminus. A sequence related to a sequence specifically disclosed herein shares homology with that sequence. Homology may be at the nucleotide sequence and/or amino acid sequence level. Preferably, the nucleic acid and/or amino acid sequence shares homology with the coding sequence or the sequence encoded by the nucleotide sequence of Figure 1, preferably at least about 50%, or 60%, or 70%, or 80% homology, most preferably at least about 90%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98% or 99% homology. As is well-understood, homology at the amino acid level is generally in terms of amino acid similarity or identity. Similarity allows for "conservative variation", i.e. substitution of one hydrophobic residue such as isoleucine, valine, leucine or methionine for another, or the substitution of one polar residue for another, such as arginine for lysine, glutamic for aspartic acid, or glutamine for asparagine . Similarity may be as defined and determined by the TBLASTN program, of Altschul et al . (1990) J. Mol . Biol . 215: 403-10, which is in standard use in the art, or, and this may be preferred, the standard program BestFit, which is part of the Wisconsin Package, Version 8, September 1994, (Genetics Computer Group, 575 Science Drive, Madison, Wisconsin, USA, Wisconsin 53711) . BestFit makes an optimal alignment of the best segment of similarity between two sequences. Optimal alignments are found by inserting gaps to maximize the number of matches using the local homology algorithm of Smith and Waterman (Adv. Appl . Math . (1981) 2: 482-489) . Homology may be over the full-length of the relevant sequence shown herein, or may more preferably be over a contiguous sequence of about or greater than about 20, 25, 30, 33, 40, 50, 67, 133, 167, 200, 233, 267, 300, 333 or more amino acids or codons, compared with the relevant amino acid sequence or nucleotide sequence as the case may be. Also provided by an aspect of the present invention is nucleic acid including or consisting essentially of a sequence of nucleotides complementary to a nucleotide sequence hybridisable with any encoding sequence provided herein. Another way of looking at this would be for nucleic acid according to this aspect to be hybridisable with a nucleotide sequence complementary to any encoding sequence provided herein. Of course, DNA is generally double- stranded and blotting techniques such as Southern hybridisation are often performed following separation of the strands without a distinction being drawn between which of the strands is hybridising. Preferably the hybridisable nucleic acid or its complement encode a product able to influence a physical characteristic of a plant, particularly a flowering characteristic such as the timing of flowering. Preferred conditions for hybridisation are familiar to those skilled in the art, but are generally stringent enough for there to be positive hybridisation between the sequences of interest to the exclusion of other sequences. The nucleic acid, which may contain for example DNA encoding the amino acid sequence of Figure 1, as genomic (see e.g. Figure 2) or cDNA, may be in the form of a recombinant and preferably replicable vector, for example a plasmid, cosmid, phage or -Agrobacteriu-m binary vector. The nucleic acid may be under the control of an appropriate promoter or other regulatory elements for expression in a host cell such as a microbial, e.g. bacterial, or plant cell. In the case of genomic DNA, this may contain its own promoter or other regulatory elements and in the case of cDNA this may be under the control of an appropriate promoter or other regulatory elements for expression in the host cell. A vector including nucleic acid according to the present invention need not include a promoter or other regulatory sequence, particularly if the vector is to be used to introduce the nucleic acid into cells for recombination into the genome . Those skilled in the art are well able to construct vectors and design protocols for recombinant gene expression. Suitable vectors can be chosen or constructed, containing appropriate regulatory sequences, including promoter sequences, terminator fragments, polyadenylation sequences, enhancer sequences, marker genes and other sequences as appropriate. For further details see, for example, Molecular Cloning: a Laboratory Manual : 2nd edition, Sambrook et al , 1989, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press. Many known techniques and protocols for manipulation of nucleic acid, for example in preparation of nucleic acid constructs, mutagenesis, sequencing, introduction of DNA into cells and gene expression, and analysis of proteins, are described in detail in Current Protocols in Molecular Biology, Second Edition, Ausubel et al . eds . , John Wiley & Sons, 1992. The disclosures of Sambrook et al . and Ausubel et al . are incorporated herein by reference. Specific procedures and vectors previously used with wide success upon plants are described by Bevan (Nucl. Acids Res. 12, 8711-8721 (1984)) and Guerineau and Mullineaux (1993) (Plant transformation and expression vectors. In: Plant Molecular Biology Labfax (Croy RRD ed) Oxford, BIOS Scientific Publishers, pp 121-148) . Selectable genetic markers may be used consisting of chimaeric genes that confer selectable phenotypes such as resistance to antibiotics such as kanamycin, hygromycin, phosphinotricin, chlorsulfuron, methotrexate, gentamycin, spectinomycin, imidazolinones and glyphosate . Nucleic acid molecules and vectors according to the present invention may be provided isolated and/or purified from their natural environment, in substantially pure or homogeneous form, or free or substantially free of nucleic acid or genes of the species of interest or origin other than the sequence encoding a polypeptide with the required function. Nucleic acid according to the present invention may include cDNA, RNA, genomic DNA and may be wholly or partially synthetic. The term "isolate" encompasses all these possibilities. Where a DNA sequence is specified, e.g. with reference to a figure, unless context requires otherwise the RNA equivalent, with U substituted for T where it occurs, is encompassed. When introducing a chosen gene construct into a cell, certain considerations must be taken into account, well known to those skilled in the art. The nucleic acid to be inserted should be assembled within a construct which contains effective regulatory elements which will drive transcription. There must be available a method of transporting the construct into the cell. Once the construct is within the cell membrane, integration into the endogenous chromosomal material either will or will not occur. Finally, as far as plants are concerned the target cell type must be such that cells can be regenerated into whole plants. Plants transformed with the DNA segment containing the sequence may be produced by standard techniques which are already known for the genetic manipulation of plants. DNA can be transformed into plant cells using any suitable technology, such as a disarmed Ti-plasmid vector carried by Agrobacterium exploiting its natural gene transfer ability (EP-A-270355, EP-A- 0116718 , NAR 12(22) 8711 - 87215 1984), particle or microprojectile bombardment (US 5100792, EP-A- 444882, EP-A-434616) microinjection (WO 92/09696, WO 94/00583, EP 331083, EP 175966, Green et al . (1987) Plant Tissue and Cell Cul ture, Academic Press) , electroporation (EP 290395, WO 8706614 Gelvin Debeyser - see attached) other forms of direct DNA uptake (DE 4005152, WO 9012096, US 4684611), liposome mediated DNA uptake (e.g. Freeman et al . Plant Cell Physiol . 29: 1353 (1984)), or the vortexing method (e.g. Kindle, PNAS U. S. A . 87: 1228 (1990d) Physical methods for the transformation of plant cells are reviewed in Oard, 1991, Biotech . Adv. 9: 1-11. Agrobacterium transformation is widely used by those skilled in the art to transform dicotyledonous species. Recently, there has been substantial progress towards the routine production of stable, fertile transgenic plants in almost all economically relevant monocot plants (Toriyama, et al . (1988) Bio/Technology 6, 1072-1074; Zhang, et al . (1988) Plant Cell Rep. 7, 379-384; Zhang, et al . (1988) Theor Appl Genet 76, 835-840; Shimamoto, et al . (1989) Nature 338, 274- 276; Datta, et al . (1990) Bio/Technology 8, 736-740; Christou, et al . (1991) Bio /Technology 9, 957-962; Peng, et al . (1991) International Rice Research Institute, Manila, Philippines 563-574; Cao, et al . (1992) Plant Cell Rep . 11, 585-591; Li, et al . (1993) Plant Cell Rep . 12, 250-255; Rathore, et al . (1993) Plant Molecular Biology 21, 871-884; Fromm, et al . (1990) Bio/Technology 8, 833-839; Gordon-Kamm, et al . (1990) Plant Cell 2 , 603-618; D'Halluin, et al . (1992) Plant Cell 4, 1495-1505; Walters, et al . (1992) Plant Molecular Biology 18, 189-200; Koziel, et al . (1993) Biotechnology 11, 194-200; Vasil, I. K. (1994) Plant Molecular Biology 25, 925-937; Weeks, et al . (1993) Plant Physiology 102, 1077-1084; Somers, et al . (1992) Bio/Technology 10, 1589-1594; W092/14828) . In particular, Agrobacterium mediated transformation is now emerging also as an highly efficient alternative transformation method in monocots (Hiei et al . (1994) The Plant Journal 6, 271-282). The generation of fertile transgenic plants has been achieved in the cereals rice, maize, wheat, oat, and barley (reviewed in Shimamoto, K. (1994) Current Opinion in Biotechnology 5, 158-162.; Vasil, et al . (1992) Bio/Technology 10, 667-674; Vain et al . , 1995, Biotechnology Advances 13 (4) : 653-671; Vasil, 1996, Nature Biotechnology 14 page 702) . Microprojectile bombardment, electroporation and direct DNA uptake are preferred where Agrobacterium is inefficient or ineffective. Alternatively, a combination of different techniques may be employed to enhance the efficiency of the transformation process, eg bombardment with Agrobacterium coated microparticles (EP-A-486234) or microprojectile bombardment to induce wounding followed by co-cultivation with Agrobacterium (EP-A-486233) . Following transformation, a plant may be regenerated, e.g. from single cells, callus tissue or leaf discs, as is standard in the art . Almost any plant can be entirely regenerated from cells, tissues and organs of the plant. Available techniques are reviewd in Vasil et al . , Cell Cul ture and Somatic Cell Genetics of Plants, Vol I, II and III, Laboratory Procedures and Their Applications, Academic Press, 1984, and Weissbach and Weissbach, Methods for Plant Molecular Biology, Academic Press, 1989. The particular choice of a transformation technology will be determined by its efficiency to transform certain plant species as well as the experience and preference of the person practising the invention with a particular methodology of choice. It will be apparent to the skilled person that the particular choice of a transformation system to introduce nucleic acid into plant cells is not essential to or a limitation of the invention, nor is the choice of technique for plant regeneration. A ESD4 gene and modified versions thereof (alleles, mutants, variants and derivatives thereof) , and other nucleic acid provided herein, including species homologues, may be used to affect a physical characteristic, such as a flowering characteristic which may include timing of flowering, in plants. For this purpose nucleic acid such as a vector as described herein may be used for the production of a transgenic plant. Such a plant may possess an altered flowering phenotype, particular in terms of timing of flowering, compared with wild-type (that is to say a plant that is wild-type for ESD4 or the relevant homologue thereof) . The invention further encompasses a host cell transformed with nucleic acid or a vector according tot he present invention, especially a plant or a microbial cell. Thus, a host cell, such as a plant cell, including heterologous nucleic acid according to the present invention is provided. Within the cell, the nucleic acid may be incorporated within the chromosome . There may be more than one heterologous nucleotide sequence per haploid genome. Also according to the invention there is provided a plant cell having incorporated into its genome nucleic acid, particularly heterologous nucleic acid, as provided by the present invention, under operative control of a regulatory sequence for control of expression. The coding sequence may be operably linked to one or more regulatory sequences which may be heterologous or foreign to the gene, such as not naturally associated with the gene for its expression. The nucleic acid according to the invention may be placed under the control of an externally inducible gene promoter to place expression under the control of the user. A suitable inducible promoter is the GST-II-27 gene promoter which has been shown to be induced by certain chemical compounds which can be applied to growing plants . The promoter is functional in both monocotyledons and dicotyledons . It can therefore be used to control gene expression in a variety of genetically modified plants, including field crops such as canola, sunflower, tobacco, sugarbeet, cotton; cereals such as wheat, barley, rice, maize, sorghum; fruit such as tomatoes, mangoes, peaches, apples, pears, strawberries, bananas, and melons; and vegetables such as carrot, lettuce, cabbage and onion. The GST-II-27 promoter is also suitable for use in a variety of tissues, including roots, leaves, stems and reproductive tissues. Another example of an inducible promoter is the ethanol inducible gene switch disclosed in Caddick et al (1998) Nature Biotechnology 16: 177-180. Many other examples are known to those skilled in the art. Other suitable promoters may include the Cauliflower Mosaic Virus 35S (CaMV 35S) gene promoter that is expressed at a high level in virtually all plant tissues (Benfey et al , (1990a) EMBO J 9: 1677-1684); the cauliflower meri 5 promoter that is expressed in the vegetative apical meristem as well as several well localised positions in the plant body, eg inner phloem, flower primordia, branching points in root and shoot (Medford, J.I. (1992) Plant Cell 4, 1029- 1039; Medford et al , (1991) Plant Cell 3, 359-370) and the Arabidopsis thaliana LEAFY promoter that is expressed very early in flower development (Weigel et al , (1992) Cell 69, 843-859) . A further aspect of the present invention provides a method of making such a plant cell involving introduction of nucleic acid or a suitable vector including the sequence of nucleotides into a plant cell and causing or allowing recombination between the vector and the plant cell genome to introduce the sequence of nucleotides into the genome. The invention extends to plant cells containing nucleic acid according to the invention as a result of introduction of the nucleic acid into an ancestor cell. The term "heterologous" may be used to indicate that the gene/sequence of nucleotides in question have been introduced into said cells of the plant or an ancestor thereof, using genetic engineering, ie by human intervention. A transgenic plant cell, i.e. transgenic for the nucleic acid in question, may be provided. The transgene may be on an extra-genomic vector or incorporated, preferably stably, into the genome. A heterologous gene may replace an endogenous equivalent gene, ie one which normally performs the same or a similar function, or the inserted sequence may be additional to the endogenous gene or other sequence. An advantage of introduction of a heterologous gene is the ability to place expression of a sequence under the control of a promoter of choice, in order to be able to influence expression according to preference. Furthermore, mutants, variants and derivatives of the wild-type gene, e.g. with higher or lower activity than wild-type, may be used in place of the endogenous gene. Nucleic acid heterologous, or exogenous or foreign, to a plant cell may be non-naturally occuring in cells of that type, variety or species. Thus, nucleic acid may include a coding sequence of or derived from a particular type of plant cell or species or variety of plant, placed within the context of a plant cell of a different type or species or variety of plant. A further possibility is for a nucleic acid sequence to be placed within a cell in which it or a homologue is found naturally, but wherein the nucleic acid sequence is linked and/or adjacent to nucleic acid which does not occur naturally within the cell, or cells of that type or species or variety of plant, such as operably linked to one or more regulatory sequences, such as a promoter sequence, for control of expression. A sequence within a plant or other host cell may be identifiably heterologous, exogenous or foreign. Plants which include a plant cell according to the invention are also provided, along with any part or propagule thereof, seed, selfed or hybrid progeny and descendants. A plant according to the present invention may be one which does not breed true in one or more properties. Plant varieties may be excluded, particularly registrable plant varieties according to Plant Breeders' Rights. It is noted that a plant need not be considered a "plant variety" simply because it contains stably within its genome a transgene, introduced into a cell of the plant or an ancestor thereof. In addition to a plant, the present invention provides any clone of such a plant, seed, selfed or hybrid progeny and descendants, and any part of any of these, such as cuttings, seed. The invention provides any plant propagule, that is any part which may be used in reproduction or propagation, sexual or asexual, including cuttings, seed and so on. Also encompassed by the invention is a plant which is a sexually or asexually propagated off-spring, clone or descendant of such a plant, or any part or propagule of said plant, offspring, clone or descendant. The invention further provides a method of influencing or affecting a physical e.g. flowering characteristic such as the timing of flowering of a plant, including causing or allowing expression of a heterologous nucleic acid sequence as discussed within cells of the plant. The invention further provides a method of including expression from nucleic acid encoding the amino acid sequence of Figure 1, or a mutant, variant, allele or derivative of the sequence, within cells of a plant (thereby producing the encoded polypeptide) , following an earlier step of introduction of the nucleic acid into a cell of the plant or an ancestor thereof . Such a method may influence or affect a flowering characteristic of the plant, such as the timing of flowering. This may be used in combination with any other gene, such as transgenes involved in flowering or other phenotypic trait or desirable property. The present invention also encompasses the expression product of any of the nucleic acid sequences disclosed and methods of making the expression product by expression from encoding nucleic acid therefore under suitable conditions, which may be in suitable host cells. Following expression, the product may be isolated from the expression system and may be used as desired, for instance in formulation of a composition including at least one additional component . A further aspect of the present invention provides a method of identifying and cloning ESD4 homologues from plant species other than Arabidopsis thaliana which method employs a nucleotide sequence derived from that shown in Figure 1. Sequences derived from these may themselves be used in identifying and in cloning other sequences. The nucleotide sequence information provided herein, or any part thereof, may be used in a data-base search to find homologous sequences, expression products of which can be tested for ability to influence a flowering characteristic . These may have ESD4 function or the ability to repress flowering. Alternatively, nucleic acid libraries may be screened using techniques well known to those skilled in the art and homologous sequences thereby identified then tested. Target or candidate nucleic acid may, for example, comprise genomic DNA, cDNA or RNA (or a mixture of any of these preferably as a library) obtainable from an organism known to contain or suspected of containing such nucleic acid, either monocotyledonous or dicotyledonous. Prior to any PCR that is to be performed, the complexity of a nucleic acid library may be reduced by creating a cDNA library for example using RT-PCR or by using the phenol emulsion reassociation technique (Clarke et al . (1992) NAR 20, 1289- 1292) on a genomic library. Successful hybridisation may be identified and target/candidate nucleic acid isolated for further investigation and/or use. Hybridisation of nucleic acid molecule to a ESD4 gene or homologue may be determined or identified indirectly, e.g using a nucleic acid amplification reaction, particularly the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) . PCR requires the use of two primers to specifically amplify target nucleic acid, so preferably two nucleic acid molecules with sequences characteristic of ESD4 are employed. However, if RACE is used only one such primer may be needed. Hybridisation may be also be determined (optionally in conjunction with an amplification technique such as PCR) by probing with nucleic acid and identifying positive hybridisation under suitably stringent conditions (in accordance with known techniques) . For probing, preferred conditions are those which are stringent enough for there to be a simple pattern with a small number of hybridisations identified as positive which can be investigated further. It is well known in the art to increase stringency of hybridisation gradually until only a few positive clones remain. Binding of a probe to target nucleic acid (e.g. DNA) may be measured using any of a variety of techniques at the disposal of those skilled in the art. For instance, probes may be radioactively, fluorescently or enzymatically labelled. Other methods not employing labelling of probe include examination of restriction fragment length polymorphisms, amplification using PCR, RNAase cleavage and allele specific oligonucleotide probing. Probing may employ the standard Southern blotting technique. For instance DNA may be extracted from cells and digested with different restriction enzymes. Restriction fragments may then be separated by electrophoresis on an agarose gel, before denaturation and transfer to a nitrocellulose filter. Labelled probe may be hybridised to the DNA fragments on the filter and binding determined. DNA for probing may be prepared from RNA preparations from cells by techniques such as reverse-transcriptase- PRC. Preliminary experiments may be performed by hybridising under low stringency conditions various probes to Southern blots of DNA digested with restriction enzymes. For probing, preferred conditions are those which are stringent enough for there to be a simple pattern with a small number of hybridisations identified as positive which can be investigated further. It is well known in the art to increase stringency of hybridisation gradually until only a few positive clones remain. Suitable conditions would be achieved when a large number of hybridising fragments were obtained while the background hybridisation was low. Using these conditions nucleic acid libraries, e.g. cDNA libraries representative of expressed sequences, may be searched. Those skilled in the art are well able to employ suitable conditions of the desired stringency for selective hybridisation, taking into account factors such as oligonucleotide length and base composition, temperature and so on. For instance, screening may initially be carried out under conditions, which comprise a temperature of about 37°C or more, a formamide concentration of less than about 50%, and a moderate to low salt (e.g. Standard Saline Citrate ( λ SSC) = 0.15 M sodium chloride; 0.15 M sodium citrate; pH 7) concentration. Alternatively, a temperature of about 50 °C or more and a high salt (e.g. ' SSPE'= 0.180 mM sodium chloride; 9 mM disodium hydrogen phosphate; 9 mM sodium dihydrogen phosphate; 1 mM sodium EDTA; pH 7.4) . Preferably the screening is carried out at about 37°C, a formamide concentration of about 20%, and a salt concentration of about 5 X SSC, or a temperature of about 50 °C and a salt concentration of about 2 X SSPE. These conditions will allow the identification of sequences which have a substantial degree of homology (similarity, identity) with the probe sequence, without requiring the perfect homology for the identification of a stable hybrid. Suitable conditions include, e.g. for detection of sequences that are about 80-90% identical, hybridization overnight at 42°C in 0.25M Na 2 HP0 4 , pH 7.2, 6.5% SDS, 10% dextran sulfate and a final wash at 55°C in 0. IX SSC, 0.1% SDS. For detection of sequences that are greater than about 90% identical, suitable conditions include hybridization overnight at 65°C in 0.25M Na 2 HP0 4 , pH 7.2 , 6.5% SDS, 10% dextran sulfate and a final wash at 60°C in 0. IX SSC, 0.1% SDS. PCR techniques for the amplification of nucleic acid are described in US Patent No. 4,683,195 and Saiki et al . Science 239: 487-491 (1988) . PCR includes steps of denaturation of template nucleic acid (if double-stranded) , annealing of primer to target, and polymerisation. The nucleic acid probed or used as template in the amplification reaction may be genomic DNA, cDNA or RNA. PCR may be used to amplify specific sequences from genomic DNA, specific RNA sequences and cDNA transcribed from mRNA. References for the general use of PCR techniques include Mullis et al, Cold Spring Harbor Symp. Quant. Biol., 51:263, (1987), Ehrlich (ed) , PCR technology, Stockton Press, NY, 1989, Ehrlich et al, Science, 252:1643-1650, (1991), "PCR protocols; A Guide to Methods and Applications", Eds. Innis et al , Academic Press, New York, (1990) . Assessment of whether or not a PCR product corresponds to a gene able to alter a plant's characteristics, particularly a flowering characteristic, may be conducted in various ways, as discussed, and a PCR band may contain a complex mix of products . Individual products may be cloned and each screened for linkage to such known genes that are segregating in progeny that showed a polymorphism for this probe. Alternatively, the PCR product may be treated in a way that enables one to display the polymorphism on a denaturing polyacrylamide DNA sequencing gel with specific bands that are linked to the gene being preselected prior to cloning. Once a candidate PCR band has been cloned and shown to be linked to a known flowering gene, it may be used to isolate clones which may be inspected for other features and homologies to ESD4/ESD4 or other related gene. It may subsequently be analysed by transformation to assess its function on introduction into a plant of interest. Alternatively, the PCR band or sequences derived by analysing it may be used to assist plant breeders in monitoring the segregation of a useful gene. Preferred amino acid sequences suitable for use in the design of probes or PCR primers are sequences conserved (completely, substantially or partly) between at least two ESD4 peptides or polypeptides encoded by genes involved in control of flowering in a plant. Conserved nucleotide sequences may be identified from the nucleotide sequence information contained herein. On the basis of amino acid sequence information or nucleotide sequence information, oligonucleotide probes or primers may be designed (when working from amino acid sequence information, taking into account the degeneracy of the genetic code and where appropriate, codon usage of the organism) . A gene or fragment thereof identified as being that to which a said nucleic acid molecule hybridises, which may be an amplified PCR product, may be isolated and/or purified and may be subsequently investigated for ability to alter a flowering characteristic of a plant. If the identified nucleic acid is a fragment of a gene, the fragment may be used (e.g. by probing and/or PCR) in subsequent cloning of the full-length gene, which may be a full-length coding sequence. Inserts may be prepared from partial cDNA clones and used to screen cDNA libraries. The full-length clones isolated may be subcloned into expression vectors and activity assayed by introduction into suitable host cells and/or sequenced. It may be necessary for one or more gene fragments to be ligated to generate a full-length coding sequence . Molecules found to manipulate genes with ability to alter a plant's flowering characteristics may be used as such, i.e. to alter a flowering characteristic of a plant. Nucleic acid obtained and obtainable using a method as disclosed herein is provided in various aspects of the present invention. The present application also provides oligonucleotides based on either an ESD4 nucleotide sequence as provided herein or an ESD4 nucleotide sequence obtainable in accordance with the disclosures and suggestions herein. The oligonucleotides may be of a length suitable for use as primers in an amplification reaction, or they may be suitable for use as hybridization fishing probes. Preferably an oligonucleotide in accordance with the invention, e.g. for use in nucleic acid amplification, has about 10 or fewer codons (e.g. 6, 7 or 8) , i.e. is about 30 or fewer nucleotides in length (e.g. 18, 21 or 24). The present invention also extends to nucleic acid encoding an ESD4 homologue obtained using a nucleotide sequence derived from that shown in Figure 1. The ESD4 gene has a novel sequence. No Arabidopsis genes showing significant homology to ESD4 were identified in public databases. However, a region of the ESD4 protein showed homology to Expressed Sequence Tags (ESTs) of unknown function isolated from rice and mammals (Figure 3) . In certain embodiments, nucleic acid according to the present invention encodes a polypeptide which has homology with all or part of the amino acid sequence shown in Figure 1, in the terms discussed already above (e.g. for length), which homology is greater over the length of the relevant part (i.e. fragment) than the homology shared between a respective part of the amino acid sequence of Figure 1 and the EST sequences shown in Figure 3 , and may be greater than about 5% greater, more preferably greater than about 10% greater, more preferably greater than about 20% greater, and more preferably greater than about 30% greater. Thus, to exemplify with reference to one embodiment, nucleic acid encoding an amino acid mutant, variant or derivative of the amino acid sequence shown in Figure 1 may be provided wherein the encoded amino acid sequence includes a contiguous sequence of about 100 amino acids which has greater homology with a contiguous sequence of 100 amino acids within the amino acid sequence of Figure 1 than any contiguous sequence of 100 amino acids within an EST sequence such as shown in Figure 5, preferably greater than about 5% greater homology, and so on. Similarly, nucleic acid according to certain embodiments of the present invention may have homology with all or part of the nucleotide sequence shown in Figure 1 or Figure 2, in the terms discussed already above (e.g. for length) , which homology is greater over the length of the relevant part (i.e. fragment) than the homology shared between a respective part of the nucleotide sequence of Figure 1 or Figure 2 and Figure 4A or Figure 4B and may be greater than about 5% greater, more preferably greater than about 10% greater, more preferably greater than about 20% greater, and more preferably greater than about 30% greater. Thus, to exemplify with reference to one embodiment, nucleic acid may be provided in accordance with the present invention wherein the nucleotide sequence includes a contiguous sequence of about 300 nucleotides (or 100 codons) which has greater homology with a contiguous sequence of 300 nucleotides within the nucleotide sequence of Figure 1 or Figure 2 than any contiguous sequence of 100 nucleotides within an EST sequence such as shown in Figure 4A or Figure 4B, preferably greater than about 5% greater homology, and so on. The provision of sequence information for the ESD4 gene of Arabidopsis thaliana enables the obtention of homologous sequences from other plant species. In particular, it should be possible to easily isolate ESD4 homologues from related, commercially important Brassica species (e.g. Brassica nigra, Brassica napus and Brassica oleraceae) , as has been done for other flowering time genes isolated from Arabidopsis (e.g CO; WO 96/14414) . Thus, included within the scope of the present invention are nucleic acid molecules which encode amino acid sequences which are homologues of ESD4 of Arabidopsis thaliana . Homology may be at the nucleotide sequence and/or amino acid sequence level, as has already been discussed above. A homologue from a species other than Arabidopsis thaliana encodes a product which causes a phenotype similar to that caused by the Arabidopsis thaliana ESD4 gene, generally including the ability to influence a flowering characteristic such as the timing of flowering. In addition, mutants, derivatives or alleles of these genes may promote or delay flowering compared with wild-type. ESD4 gene homologues may also be identified from economically important monocotyledonous crop plants such as rice and maize. Although genes encoding the same protein in monocotyledonous and dicotyledonous plants show relatively little homology at the nucleotide level, amino acid sequences are conserved. Therefore it is possible to use public sequence databases to identify Arabidopsis, rice or maize cDNA clone sequences that were obtained in random sequencing programmes and share homology to the gene of interest, as has been done for other flowering time genes isolated from Arabidopsis (e.g CO; WO 96/14414) . A gene related to ESD4 has been isolated from rice as an expressed sequence tag (Figure 3) . Of course, mutants, derivatives and alleles of these sequences are included within the scope of the present invention in the same terms as discussed above for the Arabidopsis thaliana ESD4 gene. Nucleic acid according to the invention may include a nucleotide sequence encoding a product whose wild-type function is to repress flowering. Reducing the level of expression, as in the esd4 mutant, may be used to accelerate flowering, while increasing the level of expression may be used to delay flowering. The ESD4 gene product is an active repressor of flowering, while genes such as CO and LD encode proteins that promote flowering. The over-expression of the LHY gene delays flowering. The principal physical characteristic, actually a flowering characteristic, which may be altered using the present invention is the timing of flowering. Reduction in expression of the gene product of the ESD4 gene may be used to promote early flowering (in accordance with the esd4 mutant phenotype) , and over-expression may be used to delay flowering. This degree of control is useful to ensure synchronous flowering of male and female parent lines in hybrid production, for example. Another use is to advance or retard the flowering in accordance with the dictates of the climate so as to extend or reduce the growing season. This may involve use of anti-sense or sense regulation, discussed further below. As noted below, other physical characteristics of plants may be affected by means of expression from nucleic acid according to the present invention. Nucleic acid according to the invention, such as an ESD4 gene or homologue, may be placed under the control of an externally inducible gene promoter to place the timing of flowering under the control of the user. An advantage of introduction of a heterologous gene into a plant cell, particularly when the cell is comprised in a plant, is the ability to place expression of the gene under the control of a promoter of choice, in order to be able to influence gene expression, and therefore flowering, according to preference. Furthermore, mutants and derivatives of the wild-type gene, eg with higher or lower activity than wild-type, may be used in place of the endogenous gene. In the present invention, over-expression may be achieved by introduction of the nucleotide sequence in a sense orientation. Thus, the present invention provides a method of influencing a physical e.g. flowering characteristic of a plant, the method including causing or allowing expression of the product (polypeptide or nucleic acid transcript) encoded by heterologous nucleic acid according to the invention from that nucleic acid within cells of the plant. Down-regulation of expression of a target gene may be achieved using anti-sense technology or "sense regulation" ("co-suppression") . In using anti-sense genes or partial gene sequences to down-regulate gene expression, a nucleotide sequence is placed under the control of a promoter in a "reverse orientation" such that transcription yields RNA which is complementary to normal mRNA transcribed from the "sense" strand of the target gene. See, for example, Rothstein et al, 1987; Smith et al , (1988) Nature 334, 724-726; Zhang et al , (1992) The Plant Cell 4, 1575-1588, English et al . , (1996) The Plant Cell 8, 179-188. Antisense technology is also reviewed in Bourque, (1995) , Plant Science 105, 125- 149, and Flavell, (1994) PNAS USA 91, 3490-3496. An alternative is to use a copy of all or part of the target gene inserted in sense, that is the same, orientation as the target gene, to achieve reduction in expression of the target gene by co-suppression. See, for example, van der Krol et al . , (1990) The Plant Cell 2 , 291-299; Napoli et al . , (1990) The Plant Cell 2 , 279-289; Zhang et al . , (1992) The Plant Cell 4, 1575-1588, and US-A-5 , 231, 020. Further refinements of gene silencing or co-suppression technology may be found in W095/34668 (Biosource) ; Angell & Baulcombe (1997) The EMBO Journal 16,12:3675-3684; and Voinnet & Baulcombe (1997) Nature 389: pg 553. The complete sequence corresponding to the coding sequence (in reverse orientation for anti-sense) need not be used. For example fragments of sufficient length may be used. It is a routine matter for the person skilled in the art to screen fragments of various sizes and from various parts of the coding sequence to optimise the level of anti-sense inhibition. It may be advantageous to include the initiating methionine ATG codon, and perhaps one or more nucleotides upstream of the initiating codon. A further possibility is to target a conserved sequence of a gene, e.g. a sequence that is characteristic of one or more genes, such as a regulatory sequence . The sequence employed may be about 500 nucleotides or less, possibly about 400 nucleotides, about 300 nucleotides, about 200 nucleotides, or about 100 nucleotides. It may be possible to use oligonucleotides of much shorter lengths, 14-23 nucleotides, although longer fragments, and generally even longer than about 500 nucleotides are preferable where possible, such as longer than about 600 nucleotides, than about 700 nucleotides, than about 800 nucleotides, than about 1000 nucleotides or more. It may be preferable that there is complete sequence identity in the sequence used for down-regulation of expression of a target sequence, and the target sequence, though total complementarity or similarity of sequence is not essential. One or more nucleotides may differ in the sequence used from the target gene. Thus, a sequence employed in a down-regulation of gene expression in accordance with the present invention may be a wild-type sequence (e.g. gene) selected from those available, or a mutant, derivative, variant or allele, by way of insertion, addition, deletion or substitution of one or more nucleotides, of such a sequence. The sequence need not include an open reading frame or specify an RNA that would be translatable. It may be preferred for there to be sufficient homology for the respective anti-sense and sense RNA molecules to hybridise. There may be down regulation of gene expression even where there is about 5%, 10%, 15% or 20% or more mismatch between the sequence used and the target gene. Generally, the transcribed nucleic acid may represent a fragment of an ESD4 gene, such as including a nucleotide sequence shown in Figure 1 or Figure 2 , or the complement thereof, or may be a mutant, derivative, variant or allele thereof, in similar terms as discussed above in relation to alterations being made to an ESD4 coding sequence and the homology of the altered sequence . The homology may be sufficient for the transcribed anti-sense RNA to hybridise with nucleic acid within cells of the plant, though irrespective of whether hybridisation takes place the desired effect is down-regulation of gene expression. Thus, the present invention also provides a method of influencing a flowering characteristic of a plant, the method including causing or allowing anti-sense transcription from heterologous nucleic acid according to the invention within cells of the plant. The present invention further provides the use of the nucleotide sequence of Figure 1 or Figure 2 or a fragment, mutant, derivative, allele, variant or homologue thereof for down-regulation of gene expression, particularly down- regulation of expression of an ESD4 gene or homologue thereof, preferably in order to influence a physical characteristic of a plant, especially a flowering characteristic such as the timing of flowering. When additional copies of the target gene are inserted in sense, that is the same, orientation as the target gene, a range of phenotypes is produced which includes individuals where over-expression occurs and some where under-expression of protein from the target gene occurs . When the inserted gene is only part of the endogenous gene the number of under-expressing individuals in the transgenic population increases. The mechanism by which sense regulation occurs, particularly down-regulation, is not well-understood. However, this technique is also well-reported in scientific and patent literature and is used routinely for gene control. See, for example, van der Krol et al . , (1990) The Plant Cell 2, 291-229; Napoli et al . , (1990) The Plant Cell 2, 279-289; Zhang et al, 1992 The Plant Cell 4 , 1575-1588. Again, fragments, mutants and so on may be used in similar terms as described above for use in anti-sense regulation. Thus, the present invention also provides a method of influencing a flowering characteristic of a plant, the method including causing or allowing expression from nucleic acid according to the invention within cells of the plant. This may be used to suppress activity of a product with ability to influence a flowering characteristic. Here the activity of the product is preferably suppressed as a result of under-expression within the plant cells. Reduction of gene activity may also be achieved by using ribozymes, such as replication ribozymes, e.g. of the hammerhead class (Haseloff and Gerlach, 1988, Nature 334: 585-591; Feyter et al . Mol . , 1996, Gen . Genet . 250: 329- 338 ) . Another way to reduce gene activity in a plant employs transposon mutagenesis (reviewed by Osborne et al . , (1995) Current Opinion in Cell Biology 7, 406-413) . Inactivation of genes has been demonstrated via a "targeted tagging" approach using either endogenous mobile elements or heterologous cloned transposons which retain their mobility in alien genomes. Alleles carrying any insertion of known sequence may be identified by using PCR primers with binding specificities both in the insertion sequence and the homologue. "Two-element systems" may be used to stabilize the transposon within inactivated alleles. In the two- element approach, a T-DNA is constructed bearing a non- autonomous transposon containing selectable or screenable marker gene inserted into an excision marker. Plants bearing these T-DNAs are crossed to plants bearing a second T-DNA expressing transposase function. Hybrids are double- selected for excision and for the marker within the transposon yielding F 2 plants with transposed elements. Early flowering caused by reduced expression of the ESD4 gene As described in Example 1, the esd4 mutation causes early flowering under long and short day conditions and is caused by a deletion that decreases expression of the gene. Example 2 demonstrates that introduction of the ESD4 gene into the mutant is sufficient to correct the defect caused by the mutation. This provides indication that the function of the ESD4 gene is to repress flowering and that reduction in its function causes the plant to flower early. Causing late flowering by increasing the activi ty of ESD4 The observation that reduced expression of the ESD4 gene accelerates flowering provides indication that the normal function of ESD4 is to delay flowering. Increasing the expression of the ESD4 gene is indicated for use in causing late flowering. This is supported by the observation that in wild-type plants the ESD4 mRNA is rare; it was only detected by RT-PCR and is absent from libraries of randomly sequenced cDNAs . Increasing the level of the ESD4 mRNA by expressing the gene from strong plant promoters such as the CaMV 35S promoter may be used to cause late flowering. Aspects and embodiments of the present invention will now be illustrated, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying figures . Further aspects and embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art. All documents mentioned in this text are incorporated herein by reference. In the Figures : Figure 1 shows a nucleotide sequence according to one embodiment of the invention, being the sequence of the ESD4 ORF, obtained from Arabidopsis thaliana, with the predicted amino acid sequence shown below the said nucleotide sequence. This is the cDNA sequence obtained from the Columbia ecotype . Figure 2 shows the genomic sequence of the ESD4 gene. This includes the coding sequence, the introns, the likely promoter region extending upstream of the start of translation and sequence extending approximately 4.0 kb after the translation stop. The translational start and stop codons are double underlined. The sequence shown in italics and in lower case is deleted in the esd4 mutant. The sequence underlined was absent in the original ESSA sequence. The underlined sequence is from Landsberg erecta ecotype and was used to repair the ESSA sequence, while the remainder of the sequences is from Columbia ecotype. Figure 3 shows a comparison of the ESD4 protein sequence of Figure 1 with predicted translation products from rice and mammalian ESTs. Identical residues are shown in black boxes, related ones in hatched boxes. The ESD4 protein sequence shown starts at residue 231 and extends to the end of the protein. Figure 4A shows the nucleotide sequence of the rice EST for which the predicted encoded amino acid sequence is shown in Figure 3. Figure 4B shows the nucleotide sequence of the human EST for which the predicted encoded amino acid sequence is shown in Figure 3 . EXAMPLE 1 - CLONING AND ANALYSIS OF AN ESD4 GENE Identifi ca tion of the esd4 mu tant in a popula tion of gamma - ray mu tagenised plants . Dry seeds of Arabidopsis thaliana were exposed to 90 krads of gamma rays. These were germinated on soil, germinated and the Ml plants grown to maturity. These plants were self- fertilised and the M2 seeds harvested. These were germinated on soil and the plants grown under short days of 10 hours light. Wild-type plants flower late under these conditions, and therefore early flowering mutants can be easily recognised. The esd4 mutant was the earliest flowering plant recovered in this population. The mutant was self- fertilised, and its progeny grown to confirm the mutant phenotype. The mutant was then back-crossed twice to wild- type to reduce the possibility that mutations other than esd4 were also present . Description of the esd4 mutant phenotype The esd4 mutant flowers significantly earlier than wild-type under long and short days, although the difference is most dramatic under short days (Table 1) . The esd4 mutant retains sensitivity to daylength, flowering earlier under long than short days . In addition to its effect on flowering time, the esd4 mutant shows some pleiotropic effects. The mutants are shorter than wild-type and produce fewer flowers. In addition, the mutant forms flowers or floral structures in ectopic positions on the shoot . These ectopic floral structures occur in two ways. First, the shoot meristem is converted late in development into a carpelloid structure, so that the shoot is determinate and terminates with this structure. Second, extra flowers are formed on the sides of the shoot. Either one or several flowers are often formed very close to the position of the last cauline leaf, where flowers are never in wild-type plants, or at the first node at which flowers are formed several flowers develop rather than only one. These phenotypes indicate that ESD4 has a role in ensuring that flowers form in their correct positions. The esd4 mutation also has an effect on pod shape. The siliques of mutant plants are noticeably club shaped, being narrow at the base and broad at the tip, while in wild-type plants they are of similar width throughout their length. Location of ESD4 in the Arabidopsis genome The location of the ESD4 gene was determined by testing for genetic linkage between the mutation and DNA markers that are polymorphic between the Arabidopsis ecotypes Landsberg erecta and Columbia. The esd4 mutant was crossed to the Columbia ecotype, and FI plants grown to maturity. The FI plants were self-fertilised and F2 progeny grown in the greenhouse under short days. F2 plants that showed the homozygous esd4 phenotype were identified, and DNA was extracted from 30 of these individuals. Published RFLP and CAPS markers of known position were tested for genetic linkage to esd4 . Loose linkage was detected with markers m448 and ngaδ which are located on chromosome 4, and tighter linkage was found with AG, which is positioned lower on chromosome 4. The number of esd4 mutant plants tested was then increased to 250, and more markers located between nga8 and AG were tested. This demonstrated that esd4 is located on chromosome 4 between markers m326 and SC5, an interval of approximately 3 cM. Fine Mapping of ESD4 With the aim of identifying the ESD4 gene it was decided to increase the resolution of the mapping and identify cosmid clones containing ESD4 . Cosmid DNA was introduced into the esd4 mutant to try to demonstrate the exact location of the ESD4 gene. A total of 891 plants that were homozygous for esd4 were recovered in the F2 of a cross between Columbia and the original esd4 mutant. DNA was extracted from these plants, and they were all scored with the SC5 and m326 markers shown to flank the gene. A total of approximately 43 recombinant chromosomes were found with recombination points mapping between m326 and ESD4 , and 10 were found with recombination points mapping between SC5 and ESD4 . Recombinant plants were then tested with markers located between SC5 and m326. Markers were identified in this region by scanning the physical map of the region. An unpublished cosmid contig that included SC5 and extended to approximately 250 kb from m326 was employed. We selected from this contig cosmids at defined positions and used these as RFLP markers. Ultimately this contig as well as unpublished sequence information obtained in confidence from the cosmids by the EC funded programme European Sequencers Sequencing Arabidopsis (ESSA) , a purely sequencing programme, enabled us to locate esd4 between polymorphisms detected with cosmids G5945 and G14587. These two cosmids overlap i.e. they contain some DNA in common. The region between the polymorphisms was only approximately 35 kb in length and was defined by one plant that carried a recombination cross-over between esd4 and a CAPS marker G14 (primers G14F [GACTACCTGAGAAGTTGGAATG] and G14R [GCCACTGGTCCAAGGATTCAG] ) at one end of G14587 and 3 plants that carried cross-overs between esd4 and CAPS marker G32 (primers G32F [GCAAGATGCACTAAGTATGAG] and G32R[GAGTGGTACTTAGTGATGC] ) which is at the other end of G14587. Identification of the ESD4 gene by complementation and sequencing of the mutant allele The genetic experiments described in the previous section located ESD4 to a region approximately 35 kb long. With the aim of locating the gene more accurately it was decided to introduce overlapping fragments of DNA from within this region into esd4 mutant plants to determine which were capable of correcting the esd4 mutant phenotype. The complementation experiments could not be performed with the G5945 and G14587 cosmids because these were not made in a cosmid vector that could be used for plant transformation. The cosmid vector 04541 which is also a binary vector that could be used for plant transformation was used. With the aim of identifying 04541-based cosmids containing the relevant DNA an 04541-based cosmid library made from YAC YUP5B11 was used. This YAC spans the whole region demonstrated to contain the ESD4 gene. The cosmid library was screened with probes made from cosmids G5945 and G14587. Positively hybridising clones were then mapped with restriction enzymes HindiII and Sail and from these digestions the positions of the clones relative to one another could be determined. A series of four overlapping clones (G8, P9, P7 and P14) were then used for complementation studies by introducing them into esd4 mutant plants . The G8 and P7 clones complemented the mutation (Table 2, Table 3, Table 4), indicating that the gene is located in the approximately 10 kb of DNA shared by these cosmids. The complementation was almost complete, but not entirely, especially under short days. This might be because of position effects of the transgene or because the transgene is from Columbia and the mutation in Landsberg erecta or because there is another mutation in the esd4 background in addition to esd4 which also causes early flowering. The sequence of the region shared by the two cosmids was obtained by us in confidence from the EC- funded programme European Sequencers Sequencing Arabidopsis (ESSA) , but has not been made available to the public . Comparison of the sequence from ESSA with the Hindlll restriction map of the cosmid revealed an anomaly. We found that a Hindlll restriction fragment in the cosmid was 4.4 kb long, but from the sequence was predicted to be only 4.0 kb. To test this further we amplified by PCR the anomalous region (using primers SMR [CGTAGTCCATCTCCTGACAG] and SMF [GAAGTTGTCACTGCTGCGTCAG] ) and sequenced the amplified fragment from Landsberg erecta DNA (Figure 2) . This demonstrated that the ESSA sequence was not correct in this critical region and that 424 bp of DNA was deleted from the sequence. The corrected sequence is shown in Figure 2. Computer analysis did not detect homology to any previously published plant gene in the region of overlap of the two complementing cosmids. However, use of the GENEFINDER and GRAIL programmes did predict that this region was likely to encode one gene based on the presence of open reading frames within the genomic sequence and of likely exon/intron splice junctions. It seemed likely that this was the ESD4 gene. Further evidence for this was obtained by analysing DNA isolated from the esd4 mutant . Use of the polymerase chain reaction and primers A (GTCTCATAGGCGTCTTTG) and P2 (CATACCAGAGCATTCAGAATC) demonstrated that the esd4 mutant had suffered a 762 bp deletion in the region of the predicted ESD4 gene. The computer analysis of the ESD4 region predicted that this deletion had removed 10 codons from the protein coding sequence and part of the promoter region. The deleted DNA is marked in Figure 2. The presence of this deletion in the esd4 mutant strongly suggested that this region encodes the ESD4 gene. Gene structure To confirm the structure of the ESD4 gene that was predicted from the computer analysis, a cDNA was screened for in cDNA libraries. The aerial parts library and a seedling library were screened by PCR using primers that annealed to the vector. Small fragments were amplified from these libraries and sequenced. The libraries were then re-screened using primers that annealed to the ESD4 sequence and were designed from either the genomic sequence or the cDNA sequence that had already been obtained. The fragments were sequenced by cycle sequencing. This combination of approaches produced an entire cDNA sequence which is shown in Figure 1, and is the sequence of the ESD4 open reading frame produced from Columbia. Primers that annealed to close to the predicted translational stop sequence (C3 new [CACAGGATCCTTCAATCAGCTCGTAG] ) and to the predicted translational start sequence (C5 [GCGCCCGGGATTGATTACTCAATCTCT] ) were synthesised to use for RT-PCR and thereby to confirm that the transcript is present in wild-type plants. These were then used in a PCR to amplify DNA from first strand cDNA. The cDNA had previously been synthesised from RNA extracted from Arabidopsis seedlings at the 2 leaf stage. An amplified fragment of the predicted size (approximately 1.5 kb) was obtained and hybridised to the ESD4 cDNA. Attempts to clone the entire cDNA into the E.coli Bluescript plasmid initially failed. However, it was subcloned in two pieces. The primers (ISO [CTCAATCTCTAGAGTTTAGTGG] and 2S0 [GCATCATACTAGTATCCTCAAC] ) were used to amplify the 5' end of the gene and it was cloned into the Xbal and Spel sites of Bluescript. The 3' end was cloned using primers (3S0 [GTTGAGGATACTAGTATGATGC] and c3new) and this was then cloned into the Spel and BamHI sites of Bluescript. The two fragments were then joined together by ligating the fragments at the common Spel site by inserting the 3' fragment into the Spel and BamHI sites of the 5' clone. Comparison of ESD4 to other sequences in the da tabases . The ESD4 cDNA and predicted protein sequence were used to search for homology to genes in the public databases. Using a BLAST search of GenBank homology to the carboxy-terminal region of ESD4 was found to genes from rice, C.elegans, humans and mouse (Figure 3) . The residues shared by these proteins can be presumed to define a functional domain of the protein. METHODS Growth condi tions and measurement of flowering time Flowering time was measured under defined conditions by growing plants in Sanyo Gallenkamp Controlled Environment rooms at 20°C. Short days comprised a photoperiod of 10 hours lit with 400 Watt metal halide power star lamps supplemented with 100 watt tungsten halide lamps. This provided a level of photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) of 113.7 _moles photons m "2 ε "1 and a red: far red light ration of 2.41. A similar cabinet and lamps were used for the long day. The photoperiod was for 10 hours under the same conditions used for short days and extended for a further 8 hours using only the tungsten halide lamps . In this cabinet the combination of lamps used for the 10 hour period provided a PAR of 92.9 _moles photons πT 2 s "1 and a red: far red ratio of 1.49. The 8 hour extension produced PAR of 14.27 _moles m "2 s "1 and a red: far-red ratio of 0.66. The flowering times of large populations of plants were measured in the greenhouse. In the summer the plants were simply grown in sunlight. In winter supplementary light was provided so that the minimum daylength was 16 hours. To measure flowering time, seeds were placed at 4°C on wet filter paper for 4 days to break dormancy and were then sown on soil . Germinating seedlings were usually covered with clingfilm or propagator lids for the first 1-2 weeks to prevent dehydration. Flowering time was measured by counting the number of leaves, excluding the cotyledons, in the rosette at the time the flower bud was visible. Leaf numbers are shown with the standard error at 95% confidence limits . The number of days from sowing to the appearance of the flower bud was also recorded, but is not shown. Plant material The standard wild-type genotype used was Arabidopsis thaliana Landsberg erecta . Isola tion of plant genomic DNA . Plant genomic DNA was isolated from glasshouse grown plants essentially as described by Tai and Tanksley, Plant Mol . Biol . Rep . 8 : 297-303 (1991), except that the tissue was ground in liquid nitrogen and the RNase step omitted. Large-scale (2.5-5 g leaves) and miniprep (3-4 leaves) DNA was prepared using this method. Gel blotting and hybridisation condi tions . Gel transfer to Hybond-N, hybridisation and washing conditions were according to the manufacturer's instructions, except that DNA was fixed to the filters by UV Stratalinker treatment (1200 uJ x 100; Stratagene) and/or baked at 80°C for 2 h. Radiolabelled DNA was prepared by random hexamer labelling. RFLP and CAPS markers All information relating to RFLP markers and CAPS markers that are described in the text but were received from other labs are described in Arabidopsis thaliana Database or Arabidopsis Management Information Service on the internet ( [http://genome-www.stanford.edu/Arabidopsis/] or [http : //aims . cps . msu . edu/aims/menu/catalog . html] ) . The crucial CAPS markers G14 and G32 which most closely flank ESD4 and were used to position the gene most accurately are described in the text and the sequences of the primers used are provided. In each case a polymorphism was detected between Landsberg erecta and Columbia: with the G14 fragment with Clal and with the G32 fragment with EcoRV. RNA extractions RNA was extracted using a method which is a modified version of that described by Stiekema et al . , (1988) Plant Molecular Biology 11 , 255-269. Approximately 5 g of tissue frozen in liquid nitrogen was ground in a coffee grinder and extracted with a mixture of 15 ml of phenol and 15 ml of extraction buffer (50 mM Tris pH8 , 1 mM EDTA, 1% SDS) . The mixture was shaken, centrifuged and 25 ml of the aqueous layer recovered. This was then shaken vigorously with a mixture of 0.7 ml 4M sodium chloride, 10 ml phenol and 10 ml of chloroform. The aqueous layer was recovered after centrifugation and extracted with 25 ml of chloroform. The RNA was then precipitated from 25 ml of the aqueous layer by the addition of 2 ml of 10 M LiCL, and the precipitate recovered by centrif gation. The pellet was dissolved in 2 ml DEPC water and the RNA precipitated by the addition of 0.2 ml of 4M sodium chloride and 4 ml of ethanol. After centrifugation the pellet was dissolved in 0.5 ml of DEPC water and the RNA concentration determined. DNA extractions Arabidopsis DΝA was performed by a CTAB extraction method described by Dean, et al . (1992), Plant Journal , 2: 69-82. Isolation of cDNA by RT-PCR Total RΝA was isolated from whole seedlings at the 2-3 leaf stage growing under long days in the greenhouse. For first strand cDΝA synthesis, 10 ug of RΝA in a volume of 10 ul was heated to 65°C for 3 minutes, and then quickly cooled on ice. 10 ul of reaction mix was made containing 1 ul of RΝAsin, 1 ul of standard dT 17 -adapter primer (1 ug/ul ; Frohman et al, 1988) , 4ul of 5x reverse transcriptase buffer (250mM TrisHCl pH8.3 , 375mM KCl, 15mM MgCl 2 ), 2ul DTT (lOOmM) , lul dΝTP (20mM) , lul reverse transcriptase (200 units, M-MLV Gibco) . This reaction mix was then added to the RΝA creating a final volume of 20ul. The mixture was incubated at 42°C for 2 hours and then diluted to 200 ul with water. The first strand cDNA was then used for PCR using primers C3new and C5 , ISO and 2SO or 3S0 and 4S0 that are described above and the reactions were performed at 94°C for 1 minute, 34 cycles of 55°C for 1 minute, 72°C for 2 minutes and then finally at 72°C for 10 minutes. 20 ul of the reaction was separated through an agarose gel, and the presence of a fragment of the expected size was demonstrated after staining with ethidium bromide. The DNA was transferred to a filter, and the fragment of interest was shown to hybridise to a short DNA fragment derived from the ESD4 gene . Transformation of Arabidopsis The cosmids containing DNA from the vicinity of LHY were mobilised into Agrobacterium tumefaciens C58C1, and the T-DNA introduced into Arabidopsis plants as described by Valvekens, et al , (1988), Proc. Natl . Acad. Sci , USA, 87: 5536-5540. Roots of plants grown in vi tro were isolated and grown on callus-inducing medium (Valvekens et al , 1988) for 2 days. The roots were then cut into short segments and co-cultivated with Agrobacterium tumefaciens carrying the plasmid of interest . The root explants were dried on blotting paper and placed onto callus-inducing medium for 2-3 days. The Agrobacterium were washed off, the roots dried and placed onto shoot inducing medium (Valvekens et al, 1988) containing vancomycin to kill the Agrobacterium and kanamycin to select for transformed plant cells. After approximately 6 weeks green calli on the roots started to produce shoots . These were removed and placed in petri dishes or magenta pots containing germination medium (Valvekens et al, 1988) . These plants produced seeds in the magenta pots. These were then sown on germination medium containing kanamycin to identify transformed seedlings containing the transgene (Valvekens et al, 1988), and to assess the number of loci at which a transgene is inserted. The resistant plants were then grown to maturity and self- fertilised. Plants homozygous for the T-DNA were identified by sowing the seeds of each plant on kanamycin-containing medium and selecting those in which all of the progeny were kanamycin resistant. The flowering times of plants in these families were then measured by sowing the appropriate seeds directly on soil. TABLE 1 : Flowering times of esd4 mutant and wild-type plants under long and short days. The heterozygotes behave like wild-type indicating that the esd4 mutation is recessive. In the experiments for which results are reported in Tables 2 and 3 , plants scored were the progeny of the primary transformants. One batch of seeds was sown on kanamycin medium and the seedlings scored for kanamycin resistance, and the ratio of sensitive to resistant seedlings is shown. A second batch of seeds was sown on soil and scored for flowering time by counting leaf number. Because the transgene was segregating, some plants looked like esd4 as they had not inherited the transgene. The ratio of wild-type plants to the total number of plants in the population is shown in the final column. TABLE 2 : Flowering times of transgenic esd4 mutant plants carrying a transgenic copy of the ESD4 gene (YUP5B11. IB3C12) on cosmid G8 grown under long days. TABLE 3: Flowering times of transgenic esd4 mutant plants carrying a transgenic copy of the ESD4 gene (YUP5B11. IB1E13) on cosmid P7 grown under long days. Transf ormant Kanamycin Kanamycin Rosette leaves Cauline leaves N Resistant Sensitive esd4 +ve - - 2.5 + 0.6 2.4 ± 0.6 29/29 control Landsberg - - 6.3 ± 0.6 3.1 ± 0.6 28/28 erecta P7:16-l 32 6 4.7 ± 0.5 2.3 ± 0.5 29/38 P7:16-2 88 4 5.8 ± 0.9 3.2 ± 0.5 38/39 P7:16-3 42 6 5.2 ± 0.5 3.1 ± 0.3 38/40 P7:16-4 65 2 5.0 + 0.3 2.7 + 0.5 30/40 P7:16-7 86 10 5.5 ± 0.6 2.7 ± 0.5 38/39 P7:16-8 43 14 5.7 ± 0.9 2.0 ± 0.6 34/40 P7: 16-16 58 13 5.3 ± 0.6 2.8 + 0.5 31/37 P7:16-17 70 15 5.2 + 0.6 2.9 ± 0.4 35/38 P7:16-18 24 11 5.5 ± 0.6 3.2 + 0.5 39/40 P7:18-6 60 11 5.2 ± 0.5 3.0 ± 0.4 33/38 P7:18-12 48 12 5.0 ± 0.3 2.9 ± 0.4 34/30 P7:18-13 43 2 5.1 ± 0.5 2.9 ± 0.4 38/40 P7:18-15 55 9 ND ND ND TABLE 4 : Flowering times of transgenic esd4 mutant plants homozygous for a copy of the ESD4 gene (YUP5B11. IB3C12) on cosmid G8 and grown under long and short days. Plants homozygous for the transgene were identified among the progeny of the initial transformants. The progeny of these homozygous plants were used for the experiment.

Claims: CLAIMS : 1. An isolated nucleic acid encoding a polypeptide which includes the amino acid sequence shown in Figure 1. 2. Nucleic acid according to claim 1 wherein the coding sequence is the coding sequence shown in Figure 1. 3. Nucleic acid according to claim 1 encoding said polypeptide wherein the coding sequence is a mutant, allele or variant of the coding sequence shown in Figure 1. 4. An isolated nucleic acid encoding a polypeptide which includes an amino acid sequence with at least 50% similarity with the amino acid sequence of Figure 1, wherein expression of said polypeptide in a transgenic plant influences a flowering characteristic of said plant . 5. Nucleic acid according to claim 4 wherein the encoded polypeptide has at least 80% similarity with the amino acid sequence of Figure 1. 6. Nucleic acid according to claim 4 or claim 5 wherein said flowering characteristic is the timing of flowering. 7. Nucleic acid according to any of claims 1 to 6 operably linked to a regulatory sequence for expression of said polypeptide. 8. Nucleic acid according to claim 7 wherein the regulatory sequence includes an inducible promoter. 9. An isolated nucleic acid which is a fragment of a coding sequence of nucleic acid of any of claims 1 to 6, is operably linked to a regulatory sequence for transcription, and which is suitable for use in sense regulation of expression to influence a flowering characteristic of a plant. 10. An isolated nucleic acid having a nucleotide sequence complementary to a coding sequence of nucleic acid of any of claims 1 to 6 or a fragment of a said coding sequence which fragment is suitable for use in anti-sense regulation of expression to influence flowering characteristics of a plant, wherein said nucleotide sequence complementary to a said coding sequence or a fragment thereof is under control of a regulatory sequence for anti -sense transcription. 11. Nucleic acid according to claim 10 or claim 11 wherein the regulatory sequence includes an inducible promoter . 12. A nucleic acid vector suitable for transformation of a plant cell and including nucleic acid according to any preceding claim. 13. A host cell containing heterologous nucleic acid according to any preceding claim. 14. A host cell according to claim 13 which is microbial . 15. A host cell according to claim 13 which is a plant cell. 16. A plant cell according to claim 15 having said heterologous nucleic acid within its genome. 17. A plant cell according to claim 16 having more than one said nucleotide sequence per haploid genome. 18. A plant comprising a plant cell according to any of claims 15 to 17. 19. A plant according to claim 18 which does not breed true . 20. Selfed or hybrid progeny or a descendant of a plant according to claim 18 or claim 19, or any part or propagule of such a plant, progeny or descendant, such as seed, said progeny, descendant, part or propagule including a cell according to any of claims 15 to 17. 21. A method of influencing a flowering characteristic of a plant, the method comprising causing or allowing expression of a product encoded by heterologous nucleic acid according to any of claims 1 to 6 within cells of the plant . 22. A method of influencing a flowering characteristic of a plant, the method comprising causing or allowing transcription from heterologous nucleic acid according to claim 9 within cells of the plant. 23. A method of influencing a flowering characteristic of a plant, the method comprising causing or allowing transcription from heterologous nucleic acid according to claim 10 within cells of the plant. 24. A method of influencing a flowering characteristic of a plant, the method including causing in cells of the plant down-regulation of expression of a gene including nucleic acid which has a sequence according to the sequence of nucleic acid according to any of claims 1 to 6. 25. A method of making a plant cell according to claim 16, the method including: (i) introducing a nucleic acid vector suitable for transformation of a plant cell and including nucleic acid according to any of claims 1 to 11 into the plant cell, and, (ii) causing or allowing recombination between the vector and the plant cell genome to introduce a nucleic acid according to any one of claims 1 to 11 into the genome. 26. A method of making a plant, the method including: (i) making plant cells in accordance with claim 25; (ii) regenerating a plant from said plant cells or descendants thereof. 27. A method according to claim 26 further including cloning or propagating said plant or a descendant thereof containing heterologous nucleic acid according to any of claims 1 to 11 within its genome. 28. Use of nucleic acid according to any of claims 1 to 6 for influencing a flowering characteristic of a plant. 29. Use of nucleic acid according to claim 9 for influencing a flowering characteristic of a plant. 30. Use of nucleic acid according to claim 10 for influencing a flowering characteristic of a plant. 31. Use of nucleic acid according to any of claims 1 to 8 in the production of a transgenic plant. 32. Use of nucleic acid according to claim 9 in the production of a transgenic plant. 33. Use of nucleic acid according to claim 10 in the production of a transgenic plant.

Inventors: COUPLAND GEORGE MICHAEL, COUPLAND, GEORGE, MICHAEL
Applicants: COUPLAND GEORGE MICHAEL, PLANT BIOSCIENCE LTD, COUPLAND, GEORGE, MICHAEL, PLANT BIOSCIENCE LIMITED
Application year: 1998
Main classification: C12N15
IPC codes: C07K14, C12N1, C12N15