Virus-Induced Flowering: An Application of Reproductive Biology to Benefit Plant Research and Breeding1[OPEN]

For many crops, the benefits of traditional breeding practices are difficult to achieve because the crops have long juvenile periods that necessitate long breeding cycles, desired genotypes for a cross do not have synchronized flowering because of photoperiod or vernalization requirements, or preferred lines are propagated asexually and have limited flowering potential. In light of these limitations, and being faced with the desire to accelerate breeding as a means of contending with climate change, dwindling water resources, and invasive biotic stressors, we explore the use of virus-induced flowering (VIF) as a method to accelerate the transition to reproductive growth and thus facilitate research and breeding.