BACKGROUND The ability to induce flowering on demand is of significant biotechnological interest. FT protein has been recently identified as an important component of the mobile flowering hormone, florigen, whose function is conserved across the plant kingdom. We therefore focused on manipulation of both endogenous and heterologous FT genes to develop a floral induction system where flowering w...

Many plant species are induced to flower by stress. Stress-induced flowering has been studied mostly in the short-day plant pharbitis (also called Japanese morning glory; Ipomoea nil, formerly Pharbitis nil). In this article, physiological characteristics, the regulation by salicylic acid (SA) and the expression of flowering-related genes in stress-induced flowering in pharbitis are reviewed. P...

The switch to flowering is the most important event in the life cycle of a plant, signaling its commitment to set seed ensuring survival of the species. Effective and efficient pollination leading to seed set requires that all individuals in a population flower together. Environmental cues are the most effective in bringing about simultaneous flowering in populations growing over wide extents o...

A number of Eucalyptus species exhibit precocious flowering, flowering within a year of germination and often while still exhibiting juvenile foliage. To understand the nature of precocious flowering in Eucalyptus occidentalis, partial homologues of the inflorescence meristem identity gene TERMINAL FLOWER1 and of the floral meristem identity genes LEAFY and APETALA1 (EOTFL1, EOLFY and EOAP1, re...

Despite the potential importance of divergent reproductive phenologies as a barrier to gene flow, we know less about the genetics of this factor than we do about any other isolating barrier. Here, we report on the genetic architecture of divergent flowering phenologies that result in substantial reproductive isolation between the naturally hybridizing plant species Iris fulva and I. brevicaulis...

BACKGROUND MicroRNAs (miRNAs) is a class of non-coding RNAs involved in post- transcriptional control of gene expression, via degradation and/or translational inhibition. Six-hundred sixty-one rice miRNAs are known that are important in plant development. However, flowering-related miRNAs have not been characterized in Oryza rufipogon Griff. It was approved by supervision department of Guangdon...

Tamarix ramosissima has bi-seasonal flowering and fruit-setting characteristics. This study compared the morphology and germination characteristics of seeds from Tamarix ramosissima plants during the spring flowering period and the summer flowering period. The results are as follows: there is no significant difference in morphology, such as size and thousand-seed weight, between seeds from diff...

BACKGROUND The transition from vegetative to reproductive stages marks a major milestone in plant development. It is clear that global change factors (e.g., increasing [CO(2)] and temperature) have already had and will continue to have a large impact on plant flowering times in the future. Increasing atmospheric [CO(2)] has recently been shown to affect flowering time, and may produce even grea...

Rice is a facultative short-day plant (SDP), and the regulatory pathways for flowering time are conserved, but functionally modified, in Arabidopsis and rice. Heading date 1 (Hd1), an ortholog of Arabidopsis CONSTANS (CO), is a key regulator that suppresses flowering under long-day conditions (LDs), but promotes flowering under short-day conditions (SDs) by influencing the expression of the flo...

In order to identify genetic components in flowering pathways of highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum L.), a transcriptome reference composed of 254,396 transcripts and 179,853 gene contigs was developed by assembly of 72.7 million reads using Trinity. Using this transcriptome reference and a query of flowering pathway genes of herbaceous plants, we identified potential flowering pathway ge...