Ecological interactions between flowers and pollinators are all about timing. Flower opening/closing and scent emissions are largely synchronized with pollinator activity, and a circadian clock regulates these rhythms...Ecological interactions between flowers and pollinators are all about timing. Flower opening/closing and scent emissions are largely synchronized with pollinator activity, and a circadian clock regulates these rhythms. However, whether the circadian clock increases a plant＇s reproductive success by regulating these floral rhythms remains untested. Flowers of Nicotiana attenuata, a wild tobacco, diurnally and rhythmically open, emit scent and move vertically through a 140° arc to interact with nocturnal hawkmoths. We tethered flowers to evaluate the importanceof flower positions for Manduca flower position dramatically sexta-mediated pollinations; nfluenced pollination. We examined the pollination success of phase-shifted flowers, silenced in circadian clock genes, NaZTL, NaLHY, and NaTOCI, by RNAi. Circadian rhythms in N. attenuata flowers are responsible for altered seed set from outcrossed pollen.展开更多
基金supported by European Research Council advanced grant Clockwork Green (No. 293926) to I.T.B.the Global Research Lab program (2012055546) from the National Research Foundation of Korea+1 种基金Institute for Basic Science (IBS-R021-D1)the Max Planck Society
文摘Ecological interactions between flowers and pollinators are all about timing. Flower opening/closing and scent emissions are largely synchronized with pollinator activity, and a circadian clock regulates these rhythms. However, whether the circadian clock increases a plant＇s reproductive success by regulating these floral rhythms remains untested. Flowers of Nicotiana attenuata, a wild tobacco, diurnally and rhythmically open, emit scent and move vertically through a 140° arc to interact with nocturnal hawkmoths. We tethered flowers to evaluate the importanceof flower positions for Manduca flower position dramatically sexta-mediated pollinations; nfluenced pollination. We examined the pollination success of phase-shifted flowers, silenced in circadian clock genes, NaZTL, NaLHY, and NaTOCI, by RNAi. Circadian rhythms in N. attenuata flowers are responsible for altered seed set from outcrossed pollen.
