scholarly journals Optimization of Tomato Productivity Using Flowering Time Variants

Agronomy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 285
Author(s):  
Sujeevan Rajendran ◽  
Jung Heo ◽  
Yong Jun Kim ◽  
Dae Heon Kim ◽  
Kisung Ko ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Flowering Time ◽  
Crop Yield ◽  
Fruit Yield ◽  
Fine Tuning ◽  
Shoot Meristem ◽  
Yield Model ◽  
Axillary Shoots ◽  
Floral Organs ◽  
Late Flowering ◽  
Time Continuum

The control of flowering time is a major contributing factor to the improvement of crop yield by optimizing plant growth in a crop cycle. Genetic variants that determine flowering time can provide insights into optimizing flowering time for higher yields and other beneficial traits in tomato crops. Here, we examined a collection of flowering time variants to assess their effects on biomass and total tomato yields. Five late flowering (lf), thirteen large plant (lp), and seven floral homeotic (fh) mutants were identified as flowering time variants that could be rearranged according to leaf production in the primary shoot meristem (PSM). A flowering time continuum of mutants was translated into a positive continuum of biomass yield with more leaves, branches, and floral organs. The flowering time continuum showed an optimal curve of fruit yield, indicating a certain late flowering time as optimal for fruit yield, with the yield gradually decreasing in both directions with earlier or later flowering times. We isolated lf1, lf10, lp22, and fh13 as high-yielding genotypes with optimal flowering time, showing a new balance between the vegetative and flowering phases of tomato. Additionally, lp8, fh8, and fh15 produced extremely high biomass in leaves, axillary shoots, and floral organs due to late flowering in shoot apices with additional production of floral organs and lateral shoot. Our new late-flowering variants provide new genetic resources that can be used to optimize crop yield by fine-tuning flowering time, and future molecular studies could be conducted by revisiting our yield model.

scholarly journals Fine-Tuning Florigen Increases Field Yield Through Improving Photosynthesis in Soybean

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kun Xu ◽  
Xiao-Mei Zhang ◽  
Haifeng Chen ◽  
Chanjuan Zhang ◽  
Jinlong Zhu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Flowering Time ◽  
Crop Yield ◽  
Plant Biomass ◽  
Fine Tuning ◽  
High Yield ◽  
Soybean Yield ◽  
Flowering Genes ◽  
Transgenic Lines ◽  
Notable Increase ◽  
Crop Maturity

Crop yield has been maintaining its attraction for researchers because of the demand of global population growth. Mutation of flowering activators, such as florigen, increases plant biomass at the expense of later flowering, which prevents crop maturity in the field. As a result, it is difficult to apply flowering activators in agriculture production. Here, we developed a strategy to utilize florigen to significantly improve soybean yield in the field. Through the screening of transgenic lines of RNAi-silenced florigen homologs in soybean (Glycine-max-Flowering Locus T Like, GmFTL), we identified a line, GmFTL-RNAi#1, with minor changes in both GmFTL expression and flowering time but with notable increase in soybean yield. As expected, GmFTL-RNAi#1 matured normally in the field and exhibited markedly high yield over multiple locations and years, indicating that it is possible to reach a trade-off between flowering time and high yield through the fine-tuning expression of flowering activators. Further studies uncovered an unknown mechanism by which GmFTL negatively regulates photosynthesis, a substantial source of crop yield, demonstrating a novel function of florigen. Thus, because of the highly conserved functions of florigen in plants and the classical RNAi approach, the findings provide a promising strategy to harness early flowering genes to improve crop yield.

scholarly journals Inter-species functional compatibility of the Theobroma cacao and Arabidopsis FT orthologs: 90 million years of functional conservation of meristem identity genes

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
S. F. Prewitt ◽  
A. Shalit-Kaneh ◽  
S. N. Maximova ◽  
M. J. Guiltinan
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Tissue Culture ◽  
Gene Family ◽  
Flowering Time ◽  
Molecular Mechanisms ◽  
Regulatory Pathways ◽  
Late Flowering ◽  
Precocious Flowering ◽  
Transition To Flowering

Abstract Background In angiosperms the transition to flowering is controlled by a complex set of interacting networks integrating a range of developmental, physiological, and environmental factors optimizing transition time for maximal reproductive efficiency. The molecular mechanisms comprising these networks have been partially characterized and include both transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulatory pathways. Florigen, encoded by FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT) orthologs, is a conserved central integrator of several flowering time regulatory pathways. To characterize the molecular mechanisms involved in controlling cacao flowering time, we have characterized a cacao candidate florigen gene, TcFLOWERING LOCUS T (TcFT). Understanding how this conserved flowering time regulator affects cacao plant’s transition to flowering could lead to strategies to accelerate cacao breeding. Results BLAST searches of cacao genome reference assemblies identified seven candidate members of the CENTRORADIALIS/TERMINAL FLOWER1/SELF PRUNING gene family including a single florigen candidate. cDNA encoding the predicted cacao florigen was cloned and functionally tested by transgenic genetic complementation in the Arabidopsis ft-10 mutant. Transgenic expression of the candidate TcFT cDNA in late flowering Arabidopsis ft-10 partially rescues the mutant to wild-type flowering time. Gene expression studies reveal that TcFT is spatially and temporally expressed in a manner similar to that found in Arabidopsis, specifically, TcFT mRNA is shown to be both developmentally and diurnally regulated in leaves and is most abundant in floral tissues. Finally, to test interspecies compatibility of florigens, we transformed cacao tissues with AtFT resulting in the remarkable formation of flowers in tissue culture. The morphology of these in vitro flowers is normal, and they produce pollen that germinates in vitro with high rates. Conclusion We have identified the cacao CETS gene family, central to developmental regulation in angiosperms. The role of the cacao’s single FT-like gene (TcFT) as a general regulator of determinate growth in cacao was demonstrated by functional complementation of Arabidopsis ft-10 late-flowering mutant and through gene expression analysis. In addition, overexpression of AtFT in cacao resulted in precocious flowering in cacao tissue culture demonstrating the highly conserved function of FT and the mechanisms controlling flowering in cacao.

Distribution and variability in development of the genus Trigonella in Asia Minor and its possible use in Australian environments

1981 ◽  
Vol 32 (5) ◽  
pp. 793 ◽  
Author(s):  
GM Halloran ◽  
AL Pennell
Keyword(s):  
Flowering Time ◽  
Subterranean Clover ◽  
Asia Minor ◽  
Vernalization Response ◽  
Developmental Patterns ◽  
Late Flowering ◽  
Commercial Cultivars ◽  
Wide Variability ◽  
Upper Level ◽  
Autumn Sowing

A number of Trigonella species were examined for their possible use in Australian environments. There was a wide variability in flowering time in Trigonella. Under an outdoor autumn sowing the range in flowering time was comparable with that found within early- to late-flowering Australian commercial cultivars of subterranean clover. The upper level of vernalization response was much lower in Trigonella than in subterranean clover. Good prospects exist within Trigonella for selecting genotypes with close adaptation (in terms of appropriate developmental patterns) to a range of Australian environments, a range at least as wide as that now occupied by subterranean clover and annual medic.

Fine-tuning shoot meristem size to feed the world

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shuping Li ◽  
Shujun Meng ◽  
Jianfeng Weng ◽  
Qingyu Wu
Keyword(s):  
Fine Tuning ◽  
Shoot Meristem ◽  
Meristem Size ◽  
The World

Techniques to Predict Agricultural Droughts

2005 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zekai Şen
Keyword(s):  
Crop Yield ◽  
Satellite Data ◽  
Wheat Yield ◽  
Weather Variables ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Yield Model ◽  
Regression Techniques ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Effects Of Drought

In general, the techniques to predict drought include statistical regression, time series, stochastic (or probabilistic), and, lately, pattern recognition techniques. All of these techniques require that a quantitative variable be identified to define drought, with which to begin the process of prediction. In the case of agricultural drought, such a variable can be the yield (production per unit area) of the major crop in a region (Kumar, 1998; Boken, 2000). The crop yield in a year can be compared with its long-term average, and drought intensity can be classified as nil, mild, moderate, severe, or disastrous, based on the difference between the current yield and the average yield. Regression techniques estimate crop yields using yield-affecting variables. A comprehensive list of possible variables that affect yield is provided in chapter 1. Usually, the weather variables routinely available for a historical period that significantly affect the yield are included in a regression analysis. Regression techniques using weather data during a growing season produce short-term estimates (e.g., Sakamoto, 1978; Idso et al., 1979; Slabbers and Dunin, 1981; Diaz et al., 1983; Cordery and Graham, 1989; Walker, 1989; Toure et al., 1995; Kumar, 1998). Various researchers in different parts of the world (see other chapters) have developed drought indices that can also be included along with the weather variables to estimate crop yield. For example, Boken and Shaykewich (2002) modifed the Western Canada Wheat Yield Model (Walker, 1989) drought index using daily temperature and precipitation data and advanced very high resolution radiometer (AVHRR) satellite data. The modified model improved the predictive power of the wheat yield model significantly. Some satellite data-based variables that can be used to predict crop yield are described in chapters 5, 6, 9, 13, 19, and 28. The short-term estimates are available just before or around harvest time. But many times long-term estimates are required to predict drought for next year, so that long-term planning for dealing with the effects of drought can be initiated in time.

Flowering time and the natural distribution and dry matter production of Townsville lucerne (Stylosanthes humilis) populations

1967 ◽  
Vol 7 (29) ◽  
pp. 501 ◽  
Author(s):  
DF Cameron
Keyword(s):  
Flowering Time ◽  
Dry Matter ◽  
Growth Habit ◽  
Correlation Coefficients ◽  
Annual Rainfall ◽  
Late Flowering ◽  
Matter Production ◽  
Northern Areas ◽  
Stylosanthes Humilis ◽  
Significant Yield

The flowering times of 58 collections of Townsville lucerne from typical sites in northern Australia have been recorded in three spaced plant experiments near Townsville. Thirty-six collections were grown in 1963-64, 15 in 1964-65, and 17 in 1965-66. All the late flowering collections came from sites receiving at least 45 inches annual rainfall. The five collections from south of Rockhampton were all of the early or midseason type and all collections from the far northern areas were late flowering. Partial regression analysis was used to relate the flowering time of a collection to the rainfall (for the five months interval from January to May) and latitude of the collection site. In the first two experiments rainfall, latitude and (latitude)2 all contributed significantly to the regressions, but in the third experiment only rainfall was significant. Correlation coefficients for 1963-64, 1964-65, and 1965-66 were +0.83, +0.97, and +0.93 respectively. A selection was derived from a collection by bulking seed from single spaced plants selected for uniform flowering time and growth habit. The dry matter yields of some collections and selections were compared in two sward experiments near Townsville in 1964-65 and 1965-66. In 1964-65 there were significant yield differences between collections (experiment A, P<0.01) and between selections (experiment B, P<0.001). There were differences in the rates of vegetative growth and differences in the length of growing season, with late flowering types being able to make better growth late in the season when early types were flowering and seeding. Types with erect growth habit had the highest yields and seemed to compete better with sown grasses than the prostrate types. There were no significant yield differences in 1965-66, a very dry year, and the late flowering types failed to set seed.

scholarly journals Overexpression of AtAHL20 causes delayed flowering in Arabidopsis via repression of FT expression

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Reuben Tayengwa ◽  
Pushpa Sharma Koirala ◽  
Courtney F. Pierce ◽  
Breanna E. Werner ◽  
Michael M. Neff
Keyword(s):  
Transgenic Plants ◽  
Gene Family ◽  
Flowering Time ◽  
Camelina Sativa ◽  
Negative Regulator ◽  
Peptide Sequence ◽  
Type I ◽  
Mrna Levels ◽  
Core Motif ◽  
Late Flowering

Abstract Background The 29-member Arabidopsis AHL gene family is classified into three main classes based on nucleotide and protein sequence evolutionary differences. These differences include the presence or absence of introns, type and/or number of conserved AT-hook and PPC domains. AHL gene family members are divided into two phylogenetic clades, Clade-A and Clade-B. A majority of the 29 members remain functionally uncharacterized. Furthermore, the biological significance of the DNA and peptide sequence diversity, observed in the conserved motifs and domains found in the different AHL types, is a subject area that remains largely unexplored. Results Transgenic plants overexpressing AtAHL20 flowered later than the wild type under both short and long days. Transcript accumulation analyses showed that 35S:AtAHL20 plants contained reduced FT, TSF, AGL8 and SPL3 mRNA levels. Similarly, overexpression of AtAHL20’s orthologue in Camelina sativa, Arabidopsis’ closely related Brassicaceae family member species, conferred a late-flowering phenotype via suppression of CsFT expression. However, overexpression of an aberrant AtAHL20 gene harboring a missense mutation in the AT-hook domain’s highly conserved R-G-R core motif abolished the late-flowering phenotype. Data from targeted yeast-two-hybrid assays showed that AtAHL20 interacted with itself and several other Clade-A Type-I AHLs which have been previously implicated in flowering-time regulation: AtAHL19, AtAHL22 and AtAHL29. Conclusion We showed via gain-of-function analysis that AtAHL20 is a negative regulator of FT expression, as well as other downstream flowering time regulating genes. A similar outcome in Camelina sativa transgenic plants overexpressing CsAHL20 suggest that this is a conserved function. Our results demonstrate that AtAHL20 acts as a photoperiod-independent negative regulator of transition to flowering.

scholarly journals To Blend or Not to Blend? A Framework for Nationwide Landsat–MODIS Data Selection for Crop Yield Prediction

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 1653
Author(s):  
Yang Chen ◽  
Tim R. McVicar ◽  
Randall J. Donohue ◽  
Nikhil Garg ◽  
François Waldner ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Crop Yield ◽  
Temporal Frequency ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Crop Growth ◽  
Growth And Yield ◽  
Yield Prediction ◽  
Landsat Images ◽  
Yield Model ◽  
Pixel Resolution ◽  
Country Level

The onus for monitoring crop growth from space is its ability to be applied anytime and anywhere, to produce crop yield estimates that are consistent at both the subfield scale for farming management strategies and the country level for national crop yield assessment. Historically, the requirements for satellites to successfully monitor crop growth and yield differed depending on the extent of the area being monitored. Diverging imaging capabilities can be reconciled by blending images from high-temporal-frequency (HTF) and high-spatial-resolution (HSR) sensors to produce images that possess both HTF and HSR characteristics across large areas. We evaluated the relative performance of Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), Landsat, and blended imagery for crop yield estimates (2009–2015) using a carbon-turnover yield model deployed across the Australian cropping area. Based on the fraction of missing Landsat observations, we further developed a parsimonious framework to inform when and where blending is beneficial for nationwide crop yield prediction at a finer scale (i.e., the 25-m pixel resolution). Landsat provided the best yield predictions when no observations were missing, which occurred in 17% of the cropping area of Australia. Blending was preferred when <42% of Landsat observations were missing, which occurred in 33% of the cropping area of Australia. MODIS produced a lower prediction error when ≥42% of the Landsat images were missing (~50% of the cropping area). By identifying when and where blending outperforms predictions from either Landsat or MODIS, the proposed framework enables more accurate monitoring of biophysical processes and yields, while keeping computational costs low.

scholarly journals Identification of early and late flowering time candidate genes in endodormant and ecodormant almond flower buds

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ángela S Prudencio ◽  
Frank A Hoeberichts ◽  
Federico Dicenta ◽  
Pedro Martínez-Gómez ◽  
Raquel Sánchez-Pérez
Keyword(s):  
Flowering Time ◽  
Candidate Genes ◽  
Weather Conditions ◽  
Tree Breeding ◽  
Prunus Dulcis ◽  
Fruit Tree ◽  
Flower Buds ◽  
Flower Bud ◽  
Late Flowering ◽  
Chilling Requirements

Abstract Flower bud dormancy in temperate fruit tree species, like almond [Prunus dulcis (Mill.) D.A. Webb], is a survival mechanism that ensures flowering will occur under suitable weather conditions for successful flower development, pollination and fruit set. Dormancy is divided into three sequential phases: paradormancy, endodormancy and ecodormancy. During the winter, buds need cultivar-specific chilling requirements to overcome endodormancy and heat requirements to activate the machinery to flower in the ecodormancy phase. One of the main factors that enables the transition from endodormancy to ecodormancy is transcriptome reprogramming. In this work, we therefore monitored three almond cultivars with different chilling requirements and flowering times by RNA sequencing during the endodormancy release of flower buds and validated the data by qRT-PCR in two consecutive seasons. We were thus able to identify early and late flowering time candidate genes in endodormant and ecodormant almond flower buds associated with metabolic switches, transmembrane transport, cell wall remodeling, phytohormone signaling and pollen development. These candidate genes were indeed involved in the overcoming of the endodormancy in almond. This information may be used for the development of dormancy molecular markers, increasing the efficiency of temperate fruit tree breeding programs in a climate-change context.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document