Most deciduous fruit trees cultivated in the temperate zone require a genotype-dependent amounts of chilling exposure for dormancy release and bud break. In Japanese apricot (Prunus mume), DORMANCY-ASSOCIATED MADS-box 6 (PmDAM6) may influence chillingmediated dormancy release and bud break. In this study, we attempted to elucidate the biological functions of PmDAM6 related to dormancy regulation by analyzing PmDAM6-overexpressing transgenic apple (Malus spp.). We generated 35S:PmDAM6 lines and chemically inducible overexpression lines, 35S:PmDAM6-GR. In both overexpression lines, shoot growth was inhibited and early bud set was observed. In addition, PmDAM6 expression repressed bud break competency during dormancy and delayed bud break. Moreover, PmDAM6 expression increased abscisic acid levels and decreased cytokinins contents during the late dormancy and bud break stages in both 35S:PmDAM6 and 35S:PmDAM6-GR. Our analysis also suggested that abscisic acid levels increased during dormancy but subsequently decreased during dormancy release whereas cytokinins contents increased during the bud break stage in dormant Japanese apricot buds. We previously revealed that PmDAM6 expression is continuously down-regulated during dormancy release toward bud break in Japanese apricot. The PmDAM6 expression pattern was concurrent with a decrease and increase in the abscisic acid and cytokinins contents, respectively, in dormant Japanese apricot buds. Therefore, we hypothesize that PmDAM6 represses the bud break competency during dormancy and bud break stages in Japanese apricot by modulating abscisic acid and cytokinins accumulation in dormant buds.

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SUMMARY Bud dormancy helps woody perennials survive winter and activate robust plant development in the spring. For apple (Malus × domestica), short‐term chilling induces bud dormancy in autumn, then prolonged chilling leads to dormancy release and a shift to a quiescent state in winter, with subsequent warm periods promoting bud break in spring. Epigenetic regulation contributes to seasonal responses such as vernalization. However, how histone modifications integrate seasonal cues and internal signals during bud dormancy in woody perennials remains largely unknown. Here, we show that H3K4me3 plays a key role in establishing permissive chromatin states during bud dormancy and bud break in apple. The global changes in gene expression strongly correlated with changes in H3K4me3, but not H3K27me3. High expression of DORMANCY‐ASSOCIATED MADS‐box (DAM) genes, key regulators of dormancy, in autumn was associated with high H3K4me3 levels. In addition, known DAM/SHORT VEGETATIVE PHASE (SVP) target genes significantly overlapped with H3K4me3‐modified genes as bud dormancy progressed. These data suggest that H3K4me3 contributes to the central dormancy circuit, consisting of DAM/SVP and abscisic acid (ABA), in autumn. In winter, the lower expression and H3K4me3 levels at DAMs and gibberellin metabolism genes control chilling‐induced release of dormancy. Warming conditions in spring facilitate the expression of genes related to phytohormones, the cell cycle, and cell wall modification by increasing H3K4me3 toward bud break. Our study also revealed that activation of auxin and repression of ABA sensitivity in spring are conditioned at least partly through temperature‐mediated epigenetic regulation in winter.

In contrast, the proportions of the thick roots (diameters 1-2 mm, 2-5 mm, and >5 mm) in the two diploid rootstocks were less than those in the two tetraploid rootstocks. Furthermore, the berries of 'Ruby Roman' harvested from the grapevines grafted on '5BB(4×)' exhibited a much deeper skin coloration than those harvested from the other grapevines.

In order to enhance berry coloration of bright-red grape cultivars, the effects of abscisic acid (ABA) treatment on the quantity and composition of anthocyanins as well as the expression of genes related to flavonoid biosynthesis in the berry were examined. Exogenous ABA treatment increased anthocyanin content, especially petunidin-and malvidin-type anthocyanins. Quantitative realtime PCR analysis revealed that ABA treatment around véraison resulted in the upregulation of genes encoding enzymes responsible for both general flavonoid and anthocyanin biosynthesis. On the other hand, the gene expressions of enzymes involved in proanthocyanidin synthesis were drastically decreased at véraison and remained extremely low even with ABA treatment. Thus, increases in the total amount and composition ratios of petunidin-and malvidin-type anthocyanins were mainly caused by ABA-induced upregulation of uridine diphosphate glucose flavonoid glucosyl transferase, glutathione S-transferase 4, O-methyl transferase and flavonoid 3', 5' hydroxylase expression, resulting in the deep coloration of berry of skin.