Overexpression of AP1-like genes from Asteraceae induces early-flowering in transgenic Chrysanthemum plants

Abstract

Chrysanthemum is one of the most important commercial cut flowers in the world. Early-flowering cultivars are required to produce quality chrysanthemum flowers with a lower cost of production. To shorten the vegetative growth phase of chrysanthemum, three AP1-like genes from Asteraceae were constitutively overexpressed in 80 independent transgenic chrysanthemum lines. All lines were characterized by PCR and RT-PCR and demonstrated that overexpression of compositae AP1-homologs in transgenic chrysanthemum under long-day conditions had no effect on plant development compared to non-transgenic controls. Conversely, under short-day conditions, transgenic plants commenced bud initiation 2 wk earlier than non-transgenic chrysanthemum plants. Subsequently, transgenic chrysanthemum flowers showed color earlier and resulted in full opening of inflorescences 3 wk prior to non-transgenic control plants. These results open new possibilities for genetic improvement and breeding of chrysanthemum cultivars.

Genetic modification; the development of transgenic ornamental plant varieties

“…, 2009), modification of flowering time (Hsiao et al. , 2011; Shulga et al. , 2011) or introduction of herbicide tolerance (Harriman et al.…”

“…Other improvements to ornamental plants could be possible through GM. These include manipulation of the form and architecture of plants and ⁄ or flowers Khodakovskaya et al, 2009;Lutken et al, 2011;Meng et al, 2009;Narumi et al, 2008;Sun et al, 2011;Thiruvengadam and Yang, 2009), modification of response to day length (Franklin and Whitelam, 2006;Shulga et al, 2009), modification of flowering time (Hsiao et al, 2011;Shulga et al, 2011) or introduction of herbicide tolerance (Harriman et al, 2006). As an example in a cut flower, transgenic plants of Gypsophila paniculata (baby's breath) exhibited increased lateral branch and bud formation when transformed with the rol C gene (Zvi et al,2008b).…”

Altered expression of CmNRRa changes flowering time of Chrysanthemum morifolium

“…Shulga et al . () recently reported that overexpression of Chrysanthemum AP1 ‐like genes under short‐day conditions induced early flowering in transgenic chrysanthemum plants.…”

Genetic Transformation for Quality Improvement in Ornamental Climbers

“…A review on the potential of GM crops to improve leaf and fl ower longevity in transgenic ornamental crops was published by Underwood and Clarke ( 2011 ). Other improvements to ornamental plants could be possible through genetic modifi cations which include the form and architecture of plants and/or fl owers Narumi et al 2008 ;Khodakovskaya et al 2009 ;Meng et al 2009 ;Thiruvengadam and Yang 2009 ;Lütken et al 2010 ;Sun et al 2011 ), modifi cation in response to day length (Franklin and Whitelam 2006 ;Shulga et al 2009 ), modifi cation of fl owering time (Hsiao et al 2011 ;Shulga et al 2011 ) or introduction of genes for herbicide tolerance (Harriman et al 2006 ).…”