MYB117 is a negative regulator of flowering time in Arabidopsis

Plant flowering is crucial for the onset and progression of reproduction processes. The control of flowering time is a sophisticated system with multiple known regulatory mechanisms in plants. Here, we show that MYB117 participates in the flowering time regulation in Arabidopsis as myb117 mutants exhibited early flowering phenotypes under long-day condition. Transcriptome analysis of myb117 mutants revealed 410 differentially expressed genes between wild type and myb117-1 mutants, where selective genes including the Flowering Locus T (FT) were further confirmed by qRT-PCR analysis. Further, in vivo dual-luciferase and chromatin immunoprecipitation quantitative PCR (ChIP-qPCR) assays showed that MYB117 directly binds to the promoter of FT to suppress its expression. Taken together, we have revealed the transcriptome profile of myb117 mutants and identified MYB117 as a negative regulator in controlling flowering time through regulating the expression of FT in Arabidopsis.