Abstract: The regulation of flowering time in plants is dependent upon the presence or absence of protein products of several flowering genes. Phosphatidylethanolamine-binding proteins are one such group of proteins involved in determining flowering time. Ectopic expression of members of this family may either confer early flowering or late flowering to the plant. A chimeric protein containing regions of a late-flowering member of the PEBP family combined with regions of an early flowering member of the PEBP family is disclosed here. A variety of gene segments from the PEBP-encoding genes may be swapped based on the degree of modulation of flowering time that is desired. Plants transformed with the genes encoding these chimeric proteins have a more carefully modulated flowering time.

Abstract: There is provided a method for fabricating an indirectly-heated cathode structure, including the steps of inserting a heater formed in a predetermined shape into a space of a mold, injecting a thermoplastic resin into the space of the mold to mold the heater by the thermoplastic resin, inserting the heater molded by the thermoplastic resin into a sleeve having a cap on its top end, connecting the sleeve and the heater by means of a support body to assemble a cathode structure, and heating the cathode structure to remove the thermoplastic resin used for molding the heater. Therefore, in an indirectly-heated cathode structure, a heater deviating from center can be prevented, and it is easy to adjust the gap between a heater, a sleeve and a cap. Thus, the heater can be positioned at a desired position inside the sleeve, thereby preventing current leakage from being generated due to a breakdown in the heater.