Ornamental gentian plants are perennial and have a juvenile period of over 1 year before Xowering. We transformed gentian plants with a construct comprising the Arabidopsis FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT) gene (encoding a major component protein of the Xowering hormone 'Xorigen') under the control of the rolC promoter from Agrobacterium rhizogenes, which is known to induce vascular-speciWc expression. The resultant rolCpro-FT transgenic gentian plants showed early Xowering in vitro and the earliest line formed Xoral buds within 4 months after transformation. Regeneration experiments from leaf explants of these rolCpro-FT transgenic plants also conWrmed the early Xowering phenotype. After acclimatization, these transgenic plants showed normal Xoral development in a closed greenhouse. There is no eVective method to induce early Xowering by cultivation management in gentian, therefore these lines might be very useful as annual early season cultivars.
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