CHARACTERIZATION OF A WEAK ALLELE OF THE GL1 GENE OF ARABIDOPSIS-THALIANA

A genomic clone containing the gl1 -2 allele has been isolated and seq uenced. The predicted amino acid sequence of the gl1-2 protein is iden tical to that of the GL1-Col allele up to position 201. At this point in the coding region of gl1-2 there is a deletion relative to the wild -type sequence that results in an in-frame stop codon at position 202. This deletion removes 27 amino acid residues, including a highly nega tively charged region, from the predicted gl1-2 polypeptide. The loss of this negatively charged carboxy-terminal region from the gl1-2 prod uct is most likely the cause of the partial loss of gene activity whic h results in a reduction in leaf trichome initiation.