Functional verification of the JmLFY gene associated with the flowering of Juglans mandshurica Maxim.

Abstract

In this study, a pBI121-JmLFY plant expression vector was constructed on the basis of obtaining the full-length sequence of the JmLFY gene from Juglans mandshurica, which was then used for genetic transformation via Agrobacterium inflorescence infection using wild-type Arabidopsis thaliana and lfy mutants as transgenic receptors. Seeds of positive A. thaliana plants with high expression of JmLFY were collected and sowed till the homozygous T3 regeneration plants were obtained. Then the expression of flowering-related genes (AtAP1, AtSOC1, AtFT and AtPI) in T3 generation plants were analyzed and the results showed that JmLFY gene overexpression promoted the expression of flowering-related genes and resulted in earlier flowering in A. thaliana. The A. thaliana plants of JmLFY-transformed and JmLFY-transformed lfy mutants appeared shorter leaves, longer fruit pods, and fewer cauline leaves than those of wild-type and the lfy mutants plants, respectively. In addition, some secondary branches in the transgenic plants converted into inflorescences, which indicated that the overexpression of JmLFY promoted the transition from vegetative growth to reproductive growth, and compensate the phenotypic defects of lfy mutant partially. The results provides a scientific reference for formulating reasonable genetic improvement strategies such as shortening childhood, improving yield and quality, and breeding desirable varieties, which have important guiding significance in production.

Promoter cloning and activities analysis of JmLFY, a key gene for flowering in Juglans mandshurica

“…LFY has a core position in the flowering regulatory networks ( Gordon and Caroline, 2002 ; Liu et al., 2009 ; Zhao et al., 2020 ), which participate in several pathways mentioned above, and plays crucial roles in promoting the formation of floral primordia, maintaining floral meristem function and floral initiation, and preventing the reversal of floral meristem ( Shannon and Meeks-Wagner, 1993 ; Mandel and Yanofsky, 1995 ; Yanofsky, 1995 ; Chen et al., 1997 ; Alvarez-Buylla et al., 2006 ; He et al., 2018 ). The overexpression of LFY genes promoted early flowering and supplemented the phenotypic defects of lfy mutant partially ( Weigel et al., 1993 ; He et al., 2000 ; Ahearn et al., 2001 ; Peña et al., 2001 ; Cai et al., 2023 ), which demonstrates the important role of LFY genes in flowering regulation further.…”

“…The non-synchronous flowering and development of male and female flowers limited the mating and the yield and quality of fruits of the species. LFY has a core position in the flowering regulatory networks in plants, and the overexpression of JmLFY gene has been confirmed to promote flowering approximately 7 days in advance and supplement the phenotypic defects of lfy mutant partially in Arabidopsis ( Cai et al., 2023 ). In this study, we cloned the JmLFY promoter of 2,115 bp in length, which has more than 90% homologous sequence aligned with the J. regia promoter.…”