Analysis of Carbon Content in Off-season Flowering and Non-flowering Longan Trees

After flower induction, some longan trees can successfully blossom and bear fruit, while others with similar tree body status can only sprout leaf buds. In order to investigate the main reason for these differences, in this study, off-season flowering and non-flowering longan trees were used as experimental materials to analyze the changes of carbon content in mature leaves, tender leaves, mature shoots, tender shoots and terminal buds of longan trees after flower induction by potassium chlorate. The result showed that carbon content played an important role in flowering process. Off-season longan trees with carbon content in mature leaves reached 50.93 mg/g could successfully blossom, but those with carbon content in mature leaves lower than 37.40 mg/g were usually difficult to blossom. In addition, the maturity of tender leaves posed great influence on flowering. Specifically, tender leaves with a higher maturity contained higher carbon content and could easily blossom, which could be used as a new indicator to evaluate flower induction in off-season longan trees.

Shikimic acid accelerates phase change and flowering in Chinese jujube

The juvenile-to-adult phase change with first flowering as the indicator plays a crucial role in the lifecycle of fruit trees. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying phase change in fruit trees remain largely unknown. Shikimic acid (ShA) pathway is a main metabolic pathway closely related to the synthesis of hormones and many important secondary metabolites participating in plant phase change. So,whether ShA regulates phase change in plants is worth clarifying. Here, the distinct morphological characteristics and the underlying mechanisms of phase change in jujube (Ziziphus jujuba Mill.), an important fruit tree native to China with nutritious fruit and outstanding tolerance abiotic stresses, were clarified. A combined transcriptome and metabolome analysis found that ShA is positively involved in jujube(Yuhong’×Xing 16’) phase change. The genes in the upstream of ShA synthesis pathway (ZjDAHPS, ZjDHQS and ZjSDH), the contents of ShA and the downstream secondary metabolites like phenols were significantly upregulated in the phase change period. Further, the treatment of spraying exogenous ShA verified that ShA at a very low concentration (60 mg·L^(-1)) can substantially speed up the phase change and flowering of jujube and other tested plants including Arabidopsis, tomato and wheat. The exogenous ShA (60 mg·L^(-1)) treatment in jujube seedlings could increase the accumulation of endogenous ShA, enhance leaf photosynthesis and the synthesis of phenols especially flavonoids and phenolic acids, and promote the expression of genes (ZjCOs, ZjNFYs and ZjPHYs) involved in flowering pathway. Basing on above results, we put forward a propose for the underlying mechanism of ShA regulating phase change, and a hypothesis that ShA could be considered a phytohormone-like substance because it is endogenous, ubiquitous, movable and highly efficient at very low concentrations. This study highlights the critical role of ShA in plant phase change and its phytohormone-like properties.

Biology of Flowering of Some Species of the Genus Phlomoides Moench

The article presents the biology of flowering and the daily dynamics of flowering of two species from the Lamiaceae family: ph. anisochila va ph. sogdiana of the distribution out in the Nuratau Mountains range.

J-family genes redundantly regulate flowering time and increase yield in soybean

Soybean(Glycine max)is a short-day crop whose flowering time is regulated by photoperiod.The longjuvenile trait extends its vegetative phase and increases yield under short-day conditions.Natural variation in J,the major locus controlling this trait,modulates flowering time.We report that the three J-family genes influence soybean flowering time,with the triple mutant Guangzhou Mammoth-2 flowering late under short days by inhibiting transcription of E1-family genes.J-family genes offer promising allelic combinations for breeding.

Molecular mechanism of flowering time regulation in Brassica rapa:similarities and differences with Arabidopsis

Properly regulated flowering time is pivotal for successful plant reproduction.The floral transition from vegetative growth to reproductive growth is regulated by a complex gene regulatory network that integrates environmental signals and internal conditions to ensure that flowering takes place under favorable conditions.Brassica rapa is a diploid Cruciferae species that includes several varieties that are cultivated as vegetable or oil crops.Flowering time is one of the most important agricultural traits of B.rapa crops because of its influence on yield and quality.The transition to flowering in B.rapa is regulated by several environmental and developmental cues,which are perceived by several signaling pathways,including the vernalization pathway,the autonomous pathway,the circadian clock,the thermosensory pathway,and gibberellin(GA)signaling.These signals are integrated to control the expression of floral integrators BrFTs and BrSOC1s to regulate flowering.In this review,we summarized current research advances on the molecular mechanisms that govern flowering time regulation in B.rapa and compare this to what is known in Arabidopsis.

CmbHLH110,a novel bHLH transcription factor,accelerates flowering in chrysanthemum

Basic helix-loop-helix(bHLH)transcription factor gene family in plants controls various growth and development aspects;however,the actual roles of these genes in flowering plants are not well known.In this study,a novel bHLH protein CmbHLH110 was found to interact with CmERF110 by in vitro and in vivo experiments,a chrysanthemum ERF110 homolog that acts as a positive flowering regulator.In addition,CmbHLH110 was also found to regulate the flowering of chrysanthemums,overexpression of CmbHLH110 causes chrysanthemums to flower earlier,and suppressed CmbHLH110 leads to delayed flowering.Furthermore,the loss-of-function Arabidopsis mutant of its homologue PERICYCLE FACTOR TYPE-A 5(PFA5)had a noticeable late flowering phenotype,and CmbHLH110 completely complemented the late flowering phenotype of the pfa5 mutant,whereas heterologous overexpression of CmbHLH110 in Arabidopsis Col-0 caused early flowering.Transcriptome sequencing revealed significant differential expression of flowering-related and circadian clock-related genes in transgenic chrysanthemum.Therefore,we concluded that CmbHLH110,as a novel flowering regulator,could interact with CmERF110 to regulate flowering in chrysanthemum.

GmAP1d regulates flowering time under long-day photoperiods in soybean

Flowering time is important for adaptation of soybean(Glycine max)to different environments.Here,we conducted a genome-wide association study of flowering time using a panel of 1490 cultivated soybean accessions.We identified three strong signals at the qFT02-2 locus(Chr02:12037319–12238569),which were associated with flowering time in three environments:Gongzhuling,Mengcheng,and Nanchang.By analyzing linkage disequilibrium,gene expression patterns,gene annotation,and the diversity of variants,we identified an AP1 homolog as the candidate gene for the qFT02-2 locus,which we named GmAP1d.Only one nonsynonymous polymorphism existed among 1490 soybean accessions at position Chr02:12087053.Accessions carrying the Chr02:12087053-T allele flowered significantly earlier than those carrying the Chr02:12087053-A allele.Thus,we developed a cleaved amplified polymorphic sequence(CAPS)marker for the SNP at Chr02:12087053,which is suitable for marker-assisted breeding of flowering time.Knockout of GmAP1d in the‘Williams 82’background by gene editing promoted flowering under long-day conditions,confirming that GmAP1d is the causal gene for qFT02-2.An analysis of the region surrounding GmAP1d revealed that GmAP1d was artificially selected during the genetic improvement of soybean.Through stepwise selection,the proportion of modern cultivars carrying the Chr02:12087053-T allele has increased,and this allele has become nearly fixed(95%)in northern China.These findings provide a theoretical basis for better understanding the molecular regulatory mechanism of flowering time in soybean and a target gene that can be used for breeding modern soybean cultivars adapted to different latitudes.

The mid-domain effect in flowering phenology

The timing of flowering is an important driver of species distribution and community assembly patterns.However,we still have much to learn about the factors that shape flowering diversity(i.e.,number of species flowering per period) in plant communities.One potential explanation of flowering diversity is the mid-domain effect,which states that geometric constraints on species ranges within a bounded domain(space or time) will yield a mid-domain peak in diversity regardless of ecological factors.Here,we determine whether the mid-domain effect explains peak flowering time(i.e.,when most species of communities are flowering) across China.We used phenological data of 16,267 herbaceous and woody species from the provincial Flora in China and species distribution data from the Chinese Vascular Plant Distribution Database to determine relationships between the observed number of species flowering and the number of species flowering as predicted by the mid-domain effect model,as well as between three climatic variables(mean minimum monthly temperature,mean monthly precipitation,and mean monthly sunshine duration).We found that the mid-domain effect explained a significant proportion of the temporal variation in flowering diversity across all species in China.Further,the mid-domain effect explained a greater proportion of variance in flowering diversity at higher latitudes than at lower latitudes.The patterns of flowering diversity for both herbaceous and woody species were related to both the mid-domain effect and environmental variables.Our findings indicate that including geometric constraints in conjunction with abiotic and biotic predictors will improve predictions of flowering diversity patterns.

Analysis on Genetic Diversity of 40 Flowering Cherry Cultivars and Construction of Molecular ID Based on SSR Markers

Studying on the genetic diversity and genetic relationship of flowering cherry cultivars is extremely important for germplasm conservation, cultivar identification and breeding. Flowering cherry is widely cultivated as an important woody ornamental plant in worldwide, especially Japan, China. However, owning to the morphological similarity, many cultivars are distinguished hardly in non-flowering season. Here, we evaluated the genetic diversity and genetic relationship of 40 flowering cherry cultivars, which are mainly cultivated in China. We selected 13 polymorphicprimers to amplify to allele fragments with fluorescent-labeled capillary electrophoresis technology. The population structure analysis results show that these cultivars could be divided into 4 subpopulations. At the population level, Na and Ne were 6.062, 4.326, respectively. Ho and He were 0.458 and 0.670, respectively. The Shannon’s information index (I) was 1.417. The Pop3, which originated from P. serrulata, had the highest Ho, He, and I among the 4 subpopulations. AMOVA showed that only 4% of genetic variation came from populations, the 39% variation came from individuals and 57% (p < 0.05) came from intra-individuals. 5 polymorphic SSR primers were selected to construct molecular ID code system of these cultivars. This analysis on the genetic diversity and relationship of the 40 flowering cherry cultivars will help to insight into the genetic background, relationship of these flowering cherry cultivars and promote to identify similar cultivars.

Evaluation of Application Value of 30 Introduced Flowering Shrubs in Landscape in Hefei City Based on AHP Method

The application effect of 30 introduced flowering shrubs in landscape in Hefei City was comprehensively evaluated by the analytic hierarchy process(APH).A comprehensive evaluation model was established by using factors such as plant type,resistance and drought tolerance of introduced flowering shrubs.The results show that the application effect of grade-I introduced flowering shrubs(including 12 kinds,e.g.Lantanacamara)was the best(j≥2.6),and that of grade-II introduced flowering shrubs(including 14 kinds,e.g.Abelia×grandiflora‘Francis Mason’)was better(2.2≤j<2.6),while that of grade-III introduced flowering shrubs(including 4 kinds,e.g.Ligustrum×vicaryi)was moderate(j<2.2).The evaluation results can provide reference for the application effect of introduced flowering shrubs in landscape in Hefei City.

Effects of Two Signals on Flowering and FT Gene Expression in Off-season Longan

[Objective] This study aimed to investigate the effects of two signals, H2O2 and NO, on flowering and FT gene expression in off-season longan. [ Method] Nine-year-old off-season longan ＇ Shixia＇ was used as the experimental material and sprayed with signal promoting agent and blocking agent to analyze the dynamic changes of flowering and FT gene expression level. [ Result] The expression level of FT gene in off-season longan increased during the flowering process, and the expression level of FT gene in leaves reached the peak earlier than that in terminal buds. SNP and MV treatments improved FT gene expression in varying degrees. DMTU and L-NNA treatments effectively inhibited FT gene expression in terminal buds, but the inhibitory effects on FT gene expression in leaves were not significant at late stage of flower bud differentiation. [Condusion] According to the flowering performance of longan, H2O2 and NO play an important role in promoting and accelerating longan flowering.

Differences in Carbon Nutrition between On-season and Off-season Longan during the Flowering Process

Flower-bud differentiation is the most critical stage of fruit yield formation, as well as a complicated carbon transfer process. To understand the changes of carbon during the flower bud differentiation process of longan, it is very important to adopt suitable planting measures and control flowering time. This study fo- cused on the changes of sugar and starch content of on-season and off-season longan during the flowering process. The results showed that the accumulation and transformation of carben differed between on-season and off-season longan during flower-bud differentiation process ; to be specific, sugar and starch content in tissues differentiated from apical buds of on-season longan were reduced at the late flower-bud physiological differentiation stage except in leaf buds ; on the contrary, sugar and starch content in off-season longan increased at the late flower-bud physiological differentiation stage： specifically, total sugar content increased from 15.43 （ - 7 d） to 31.38 mg/g （7 d） ; starch content increased from 5.42 to 8.31 mg/g during this time, which may be relevant to the external environment or tree original metabolism damaged by potassium chlorate.

山核桃FLOWERING LOCUS T同源基因的克隆与序列分析

根据不同植物FLOWERING LOCUST（FT）同源基因序列的保守区，设计合成1对长度为18bp的PCR简并引物，以山核桃基因组DNA为模板，采用PCR方法扩增出长度为152bp的DNA片段，克隆到pMD19-T载体上。测序及序列分析结果表明，扩增所获得的片段序列为FT基因第四外显子部分序列，不含内含子，推测共编码50个氨基酸；其序列在GenBank中注册号为FJ858260．1，同源性比对结果表明，其氨基酸序列与其他植物FT基因的同源性高达88％～96％。

Effects of Media and Nutrient Levels on Growth and Flowering of Cymbidium hybridium Seedlings

Effects of two media and fertilizer levels on the growth of Cymbidium hybridium were studied. Results demonstrated that peanut\|hull mixed sand (abbreviated as PH/S=1/1) medium had higher total porosity and larger air space and lower water holding capacity in comparison with sphagnum (abbreviated as SP) medium. Leaf growth rate, chlorophyll contents, fresh weight and photosynthetic rate change along with the changes of nitrogen concentrations of both SP and PH/S media. According to the investigation,when the nitrogen concentration was 222 75?mg·L -1 , the photosynthetic rate of SP\|medium reached the highest. The practical nitrogen content was 180 00?mg·L -1 for PH/S medium . The maximum of flower quantity (number per spike) was gotten by treating of N/P 2O 5/K 2O=10/30/20 on PH/S medium, and N/P 2O 5/K 2O=0/23/29 treatment was the lowest on PH/S medium. The differences in small flowers, stem length and flower quantity among the two media and the three fertilization methods reached significant at 0 05 level,respectively.

Observation on Flowering Habit of Reverse Genic Sterile Rice FHS

[Objective] This study was to use reverse genic male sterile FHS better in field production. [Method] Low energy nitrogen ion beam was taken as a mutation source to conduct mutagenic treatment for indica rice 99-02 and the mutant FHS with special fertility that was isolated from their offspring. Some characteristics such as flowering habit and stigma exsertion rate of FHS were observed in this experiment. [Result] The reverse genic sterile rice FHS had an obvious peak flowering stage from 10:00 to 10:30, while the second peak flowering was from August 5 to August 10. Compared with PA64S, FHS flowered early and its flowering time was concentrated, showing that it is for seed propagation. The stigma exsertion rate of FHS was 85.8% and low exsertion rate was good for the purity of seed. [Conclusion] The reverse genic sterile rice FHS had good value in use, besides, it could also be used as comparison material for studying fertility alternation mechanism of photoperiod sensitive genic male sterile rice.

Effects of Ethephon on Flowering of Ornamental Pineapple in Guzmania

[Objective] This study aimed to establish the technical system for forcing ornamental pineapple in Guzmania to flower and further provide technical parameters for large-scale cultivation.[Method] The effect of different concentrations of ethephon solution on flowering in Guzmania ornamental pineapple was studied by using randomized block design.[Results] All the different concentrations of ethephon solution were capable to force the four mainly-cultivated ornamental pineapple varieties to flower to varying degrees.After the flower forcing,it took about 180 d for the pineapple to stay in the ornamentation period,and there were no significant differences in inflorescence shape,inflorescence height,inflorescence diameter and bract number among different treatment pineapples.[Conclusion] All the four varieties have shown high sensitivity to ethephon.The optimal ethephon concentration is 400 mg/L for treating G.lingulata,G.remembrance and G.denise and 500 mg/L for treating G.conifera.After treatment,their major ornamentation traits are were able to satisfy the requirements for commercial production of pineapple.

Effects of Hormone Factors on the in vitro Culture Flowering Induction of Dendrobium officinate Kimura et Migo

[Objective]The aim was to select the suitable hormone factors for flowering induction in vitro culture of Dendrobium officinate Kimura et Migo.[Method]The test-tube plantlets from the stems of Dendrobium officinate Kimura et Migo were used as the experimental materials and MS medium as the basic medium.Comparative tests have been done between single-factor hormone treatments（different concentrations of PP333 or TDZ） and multi-factor hormone treatments（different combinations of PP333,TDZ,6-BA and NAA） to research the effects of hormone factors on the flowering induction of the plantlets.[Result]Among the single-factor hormone treatments,the suitable concentration and the rate of flower buds formation of PP333 treatment were 0.2 mg/L and 8.5%,the that of TDZ treatment were 0.06 mg/L and 15.5%;the effects of multi-factor hormone treatments on the flowering induction were ordered as follow：（PP333 ＋ 6-BA ＋ NAA ＋ TDZ）〉 （PP333 ＋ 6-BA ＋ NAA）〉 （PP333 ＋ 6-BA） and（PP333 ＋ NAA） ;the most suitable treatment was PP333 0.3 mg/L ＋ 6-BA 0.5 mg/L ＋ NAA 0.5 mg/L ＋ TDZ 0.06 mg/L,the rate of flower bud formation and the rate of the blossomed flower were respectly reached to 80.4% and 90.3%.[Conclusion]PP333 and TDZ showed the important effect on the flowering induction in vitro culture of Dendrobium officinate Kimura et Migo.The effect of TDZ was better than that of PP333.It is much more conducive to the flower bud formation,when using appropriate concentration of TDZ combined with other hormones properly.

Effect of Foliar Application of Amino Acid on the Quality and Enzyme Activity of Flowering Chinese Cabbage(Brassica parachinensis Bailey)

A pot experiment was conducted to study the influences of foliar application of glycine,alanine,lysine,and glutamic acid in 200 mg/kg or 500 mg/kg upon the quality and enzyme activity of flowering Chinese cabbage（Brassica parachinensis Bailey）.The results showed that all the application of these four amino acids could increase the yield of flowering Chinese cabbage,significantly raise the content of soluble sugar,and reduce the accumulation of nitrate.The applications of three other amino acids except alanine can increase the content of soluble proteins and decrease the accumulation of oxalic acid.However,the application of amino acid has insignificant influences on the SPAD number of chlorophyll,and causes the decrease of Vitamin C content.Meanwhile,the application of amino acid can improve the activity of nitrate reductase（NR） and glutamate dehydrogenase（GDH） as well.It shows that the application of amino acid is beneficial to improve ammonia metabolism,reduce the accumulation of nitrate and oxalic acid,increase the content of soluble sugar and soluble proteins,and improve the quality of flowering Chinese cabbage.

Effects of Microbial Fertilizer and Compound Feritlizer Mixed Application on Yield and Fruit Quality and Flowering and Fruit Setting of Following Year of Apple

In order to study the application effect of microbial fertilizer and compound fertilizer mixed application on microirrigation apple, three types of fertilizers were applied in spring which were urea（CK, 15 kg/plant）, microbial fertilizer（5.0 kg/plant）,microbial fertilizer and compound fertilizer mixed（each 2.5 kg/plant） to study the effect of different fertilizer treatments on yield, fruit quality, flowering and fruit setting of Xinshijie apple. The results showed that application of microbial fertilizer could increase the yield, fruit weight and fruit shape index, significantly increase the flowering rates and inflorescence fruit setting rate of following year, while reduce the fruit hardness and soluble solids content, and the effect of microbial fertilizer and compound fertilizer mixed application on increasing fruit weight and yield was higher than that of microbial fertilizer separate application, the effect of the two was not obvious in other aspects. Therefore, microbial fertilizer could be used instead of some chemical fertilizer and organic fertilizer in apple production to reach the aim of increasing yield and efficiency, and the effect of microbial fertilizer and compound fertilizer mixed application was best.

PVX介导拟南芥Flowering locusT诱导烟草开花研究

为研究拟南芥Flowering locus T(FT)基因在开花诱导过程中的重要生物功能,本研究用RT-PCR方法,从拟南芥野生型(WS)中得到全长FT序列,采用Potato Virus X(PVX)野生型病毒构建载体,将全长FT基因连接到PVX第5个阅读框架即Coat Protein(CP)编码序列之前,经体外转录成PVX-FT病毒RNA,人工感染短日照烟草Maryland mommath,成功诱导短日照烟草在长日照条件下开花。