A critical review on: Significance of floral homeotic APETALA2 gene in plant system

Abstract

Flower development is a complex procedure regulated by combinatorial factors, such as transcription factors, peptides, hormones, and small RNAs. One of the important gene determining the floral structure and floral meristem is APETALA2 (AP2) which belongs to a large family of transcription factors. AP2 contributes stochastically in signaling pathway in flower development and in various bioactive components synthesis. The presence of GbAP2 transcripts in live fossil Ginkgo biloba leaves and female strobili tissue showed that GbAP2 might be involved directly in leaf and female strobili development, whereas it may possible that GbAP2 indirectly involved in synthesis of bioactive compounds such as flavonoids, terpenoids, ginkgolides, and organic acids. Gingko or Ginkgo biloba is among the most popular plant used in United States. Bioactive compounds isolated from the ginkgo plant are thought to exhibit as antioxidant and antiplatelet activity. Due to the pleotropic nature of AP2, it is involved in various tissues such as regulating in floral pattern, stem cell maintenance, floral organ identity, floral meristem, leaves, development of stems, and seed development. AP2 also regulate number of downstream genes but its own expression is negatively regulated at translational or post-translational levels by miRNA172 which is a small RNA (22 bp) and binds to complementary region of AP2 transcript. Mutation in AP2 showed increases in seed size and seed mass, this property of AP2 could be used in medicinal plant to enhance the valuable product. Since AP2 is engaged in various pathways it is essential to compile the functioning in the form of presented manuscript, which discusses the structure and functioning of AP2. We likewise explain how AP2 involved in various expressions and its regulatory mechanism, especially in the plant.