Abstract: LEAFY(LFY) plays an important role in the process of flower development. Not only does it control the transition of the inflorescence meristem to floral meristem， but also controls the flowering time. In this study， the LFY homologue was cloned from Chrysanthemum morifolium ‘Qianshouguanyin’ based on the genomic PCR. The sequences analysis shows that the genomic sequence contains three exons and two introns. There are two different structures in intron 1. The two introns of this gene have high variability in their sequence comparing with the DFL gene isolated from Dendranthema lavandulifolium. The putative protein of this gene is 99% identical to the DFL. The phylogenetic analysis reveals that the LFY protein of ‘Qianshouguanyin’ is more closed to dicotyledon FLO/LFYlike than to monocotyledon or to gymnosperm. Southern blot hybridization results indicate that LFY homologue of ‘Qianshouguanyin’ has two copies in its genomes.

Key words: ‘Qianshouguanyin’, LFY homologue, genomic PCR, sequence variety