准噶尔无叶豆的开花物候与生殖特征

 为了研究沙漠稀有植物准噶尔无叶豆(Eremosparton songoricum)的开花物候特征及其对生殖成功的影响, 2005和2006年连续两年对其自然种群的开花物候和开花过程中的花部表型变化进行了观察, 并运用相对开花振幅、开花强度和开花同步性等开花物候指数研究了开花物候特征。结果表明: 准噶尔无叶豆在5月下旬至6月中下旬开花, 其种群、个体、花序和单花的花期分别历时26~29 d、8~10 d、5~7 d和2~3 d。单花开花进程依其形态和散粉特征可分为散粉前期、散粉初期、散粉盛期和凋谢期4个时期。其个体水平的开花物候进程(开花振幅曲线)呈渐进式单峰曲线, 具有很高的开花同步指数, 表现出一种集中开花的模式。开花物候指数与座果数之间的相关分析结果表明, 始花日期与花期持续时间存在负相关关系, 而与开花数和座果数存在正相关关系; 花期持续时间与开花数和座果数存在显著正相关关系。准噶尔无叶豆个体开花物候在很大程度上是由其遗传因子决定的, 而开花物候在年度间的变异, 可能是由于荒漠气候的差异(主要是水分和温度的差异)所引起的。作为沙漠窄域分布特有种, 准噶尔无叶豆在环境和人为干扰的双重选择压力下, 为了吸引更多的传粉者访问而达到生殖成功, 形成了大量集中开花的模式。     

A three‐component system incorporating Ppd‐D1, copy number variation at Ppd‐B1, and numerous small‐effect quantitative trait loci facilitates adaptation of heading time in winter wheat cultivars of worldwide origin

The broad adaptability of heading time has contributed to the global success of wheat in a diverse array of climatic conditions. Here, we investigated the genetic architecture underlying heading time in a large panel of 1,110 winter wheat cultivars of worldwide origin. Genome‐wide association mapping, in combination with the analysis of major phenology loci, revealed a three‐component system that facilitates the adaptation of heading time in winter wheat. The photoperiod sensitivity locus Ppd‐D1 was found to account for almost half of the genotypic variance in this panel and can advance or delay heading by many days. In addition, copy number variation at Ppd‐B1 was the second most important source of variation in heading, explaining 8.3% of the genotypic variance. Results from association mapping and genomic prediction indicated that the remaining variation is attributed to numerous small‐effect quantitative trait loci that facilitate fine‐tuning of heading to the local climatic conditions. Collectively, our results underpin the importance of the two Ppd‐1 loci for the adaptation of heading time in winter wheat and illustrate how the three components have been exploited for wheat breeding globally.     

The effect of cold, anoxia and ethylene on the flowering ability of buds of Cichorium intybus

The apical bud and the axillary buds of Witloof chicory ( Cichorium intybus L. cv. Tardive d'Anvers) remain in the vegetative state if they are left on the root and maintained at 18°C. Flowering occurs in long days of 16 h after a pretreatment of either 8 weeks at 3°C, 3 days in complete anoxia at 15°C, or 4 days in the presence of ethylene (1000 ppm) at 15°C. In contrast, the adventitious buds which spread out on the root after ablation of the collar flower in a photoperiod of 16 h without particular pretreatment. The grafting of apical buds onto roots after different treatments shows that cold and ethylene act on the root, whereas anoxia acts directly at the level of the bud. It seems that the inhibition of the flowering of preformed buds (apical and axillary) stems from the collar. A hypothesis is proposed to explain this inhibition and why it is broken by cold, anoxia and ethylene.     

Flowering response of day-neutral and short-day cultivars of Nicotiana tabacum L. interactions among roots,genotype, leaf ontogenic position and growth conditions

The interaction between roots and leaves as a function of the capacity of differently positioned leaves to induce flowering of four cultivars of Nicotiana tabacum L. was assessed under long-and short-day growth conditions with three types of manipulations: 1) repeated rooting of the shoot tip, 2) removal of apical leaves, and 3) removal of basal leaves. Repeated rooting of the shoot tip increased the number of nodes produced by all cultivars; however, a substantial extension of vegetative growth was only caused by rerooting in conditions where apical leaves exhibited little or no inductive capacity. The simplest and most consistent interpretation of these data is that floral initiation in tobacco results from an interaction of inputs from the leaves and the roots and that the root influence can be overridden by a strong leaf signal.     

植物成花转变及成花逆转的研究进展

本文主要讨论了植物成花转变及成花逆转等开花研究中应用分子生物学技术所取得的一些进展,描述了成花决定态的特性,5个从拟南芥中分离获得的成花转变的基因,有关光受体的分子生物学研究和造成成花逆转的原因等。     

武汉大学樱花花期长度特征及预报方法

武汉大学樱花是武汉的一张"城市名片",开展樱花花期长度的预报工作,可为旅游部门管理工作和游客安排出行时间提供合理的参考。根据1979—2018年40年武汉大学樱园日本樱花树始花期和落花期的观测资料及同期气象资料的研究分析表明:(1)樱花的始花期和落花期在20世纪80—90年代期间有明显的提前;从20世纪90年代末开始至今,始花期与落花期变化趋势不明显,但变率较大,与全球气候变化停滞期相吻合;40年间花期长度变率很大,整体无明显的增多或减少的趋势。(2)平均始花期为3月14—15日,落花期为3月31日—4月1日,平均花期长度为18d。(3)花期长度与当年始花期日序数、开花期间平均气温、开花期间最高平均气温、最低平均气温和温度日较差平均值均呈负相关,与开花期间总降水量呈正相关。与开花期内平均极大风速值、平均降水量和日照时数等无明显相关性。(4)用1979—2015年共37年资料建立了樱花花期长度的单因子拟合、多因子回归及主成分分析模型,用2016—2018年3年资料进行检验,对武汉大学樱花花期长度进行了预报,取得了较好的试验效果。其中主成分回归模型、降水单因子拟合模型和多因子樱花花期长度回归模型预报效果最好,平均绝对误差在1.5d左右,后期将会把预报模型运用到实际的樱花花期预报工作中。     

The metabolism of inhibitor of flowering and prostaglandin biosynthesis, acetylsalicylic acid, in Pharbitis nil cotyledons

Acetylsalicylic acid, which applied to cotyledons of the short day plant Pharbitis nil prior to an inductive 16-h dark period inhibits flowering by 90 %, is converted to salicylic acid and to a lesser extent to gentisic acid in the cotyledons during this 16-h dark period. Our results confirmed that salicylic acid and gentisic acid are responsible for the inhibition of flowering. They also inhibit prostaglandin biosynthesis. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

PUB13, a U-box/ARM E3 ligase,regulates plant defense,cell death,and flowering time

The ubiquitination pathway is involved in a variety of cellular processes in plant growth, development, and immune responses. However, the function of this pathway in connecting plant development and innate immunity is still largely unknown. Recently, we characterized the U-box/ARM E3 ubiquitin ligase PUB13, which regulates both immune responses and flowering time in Arabidopsis. Here, we show that the rice Spl11 gene can complement the cell death and flowering functions of PUB13 in the pub13 mutant. In addition, HFR1, which functions mainly in photomorphogenesis, was identified as one of the PUB13-interacting proteins through yeast two-hybrid screening and pull-down assays. Because the flowering phenotype of pub13 depends on photoperiod, we propose that PUB13 may regulate HFR1 to fine-tune photomorphogenesis and flowering time in Arabidopsis.     

Quantitation of gibberellins A1, A3, A4, A9 and an A9-conjugate in good- and poor-flowering clones of Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis) during the period of flower-bud differentiation

The levels of endogenous gibberellin A₁ (GA₁), GA₃, GA₄, GA₉ and a cellulase-hydrolysable GA₉-conjugate in needles and shoot stems of Sitka spruce [Picea sitchensis (Bong.) Carr.] grafts with different coning or flowering histories were estimated by combined gas chromatography-mass spectrometry selected ion monitoring using deuterated GA₃, GA₄ and GA₉ as internal standards. The samples were taken at the approximate time of the start of flower-bud differentiation, i.e. when the shoots had elongated approx. 95% of the final length. The needles of the good-flowering clones contained 11–12 ng per g fresh weight (FW) and 15–28 ng· (g FW) ^–1 of GA₉-conjugate and GA₉, respectively. The shoot stems of the same material contained no detectable amounts of GA₉-conjugate and 11–15 ng-(g FW)^–1 of GA₉. The amounts of GA₉-conjugate and GA₉ were apparently lower in the poor-flowering clones, the needles containing 4–9 ng-(g FW)^–1 and 7–17 ng·(g FW)^–1, respectively. Also in this material the shoot stems contained no detectable amounts of GA₉-conjugate. The amounts of GA₄ were very small in both materials, ranging from 1–1.6 ng-(g FW)^–1. The good-flowering clones contained no detectable amounts of the more polar gibberellins, GA₁ and GA₃. The poor-flowering clones, on the other hand, contained high levels of GA₁₅ 17–19ng·(gFW)^–1 in the needles and 10–13 ng·(g FW) ^–1 in the shoot stems, and also smaller amounts of GA₃, 2–3 ng·(g FW)^–1 in the needles and approx. 1 ng·(g FW)^–1 in the shoot stems. The results demonstrate differences in GA-metabolism between the poor- and the good-flowering clones. The higher amounts of GA₉-conjugate and GA₉ might indicate a higher capacity for synthesizing GA₄ in the good-flowering material. This synthesis does not, however, result in a build-up of the GA₄-pool, maybe because of a high rate of turnover. Gibberellin A₄ was apparently neither hydroxylated to GA₁ nor converted to GA₃ in the goodflowering material, as was the case in the poor-flowering material. This might indicate that gibberellin metabolism in the poor-flowering material is directed towards GA₁ and GA₃, GAs preferentially used in vegetative growth.Abbreviations FW fresh weight - GA_n gibberellin A_n - HPLC high-performance liquid chromatography     

Plant reproductive phenology over four years including an episode of general flowering in a lowland dipterocarp forest,Sarawak, Malaysia

The first systematic observation of a general flowering, a phenomenon unique to lowland mixed-dipterocarp forests in Southeast Asia, is presented. During general flowering, which occurs at irregular intervals of 3–10 yr, nearly all dipterocarp species together with species of other families come heavily into flower. We monitored reproductive phenology of 576 individual plants representing 305 species in 56 families in Sarawak, Malaysia. Observations continued for 53 mo from August 1992 and covered one episode of a general flowering cycle. Among 527 effective reproductive events during 43 mo, 57% were concentrated in the general flowering period (GFP) of 10 mo in 1996. We classified 257 species into flowering types based on timing and frequency of flowering. The most abundant type was “general flowering” (35%), which flowered only during GFP. The others were “supra-annual” (19%), “annual” (13%), and “sub-annual” (5%) types. General flowering type and temporal aggregation in reproductive events were commonly found among species in various categories of taxonomic groups, life forms, pollination systems, and fruit types. Possible causes for general flowering, such as promotion of pollination brought about by interspecific synchronization and paucity of climatic cues suitable for flowering trigger, are proposed, in addition to the predator satiation hypothesis of Janzen (1974) .     

The strength of assortative mating for flowering date and its basis in individual variation in flowering schedule

Although it has been widely asserted that plants mate assortatively by flowering time, there is virtually no published information on the strength or causes of phenological assortment in natural populations. When strong, assortative mating can accelerate the evolution of plant reproductive phenology through its inflationary effect on genetic variance. We estimated potential assortative mating for flowering date in 31 old‐field species in Ontario, Canada. For each species, we constructed a matrix of pairwise mating probabilities from the individual flowering schedules, that is the number of flower deployed on successive dates. The matrix was used to estimate the phenotypic correlation between mates, ρ, for flowering date. We also developed a measure of flowering synchrony within species, S, based upon the eigenstructure of the mating matrix. The mean correlation between pollen recipients and potential donors for flowering date was  = 0.31 (range: 0.05–0.63). A strong potential for assortative mating was found among species with high variance in flowering date, flowering schedules of short duration and skew towards early flower deployment. Flowering synchrony, S, was negatively correlated with potential assortment (r = ?0.49), but we go on to show that although low synchrony is a necessary condition for phenological assortative mating, it may not be sufficient to induce assortment for a given phenological trait. The potential correlation between mates showed no seasonal trend; thus, as climate change imposes selection on phenology through longer growing seasons, spring‐flowering species are no more likely to experience an accelerated evolutionary response than summer species.     

Flowering patterns among angiosperm species in Korea: diversity and constraints

Because of the complexities of their flowering parameters, it is difficult to make generalizations about flowering phenology among temperate angiosperms. We examined patterns of flowering time and duration among 2867 Korean angiosperm species, and these patterns were associated with climatic factors. The effect of taxonomic membership was also tested. Overall data pooled over species from 165 families showed that 63.8% of these angiosperms flowered in summer, 19.5% in spring, 16.5% in autumn, and 0.2% in winter. Summer and autumn flowering periods were significantly longer than springtime events. Both mean monthly temperature and precipitation were strongly positively correlated with the number of species in flower, but not with flowering duration. The seven largest families differed in their flowering season and duration; both parameters were also segregated among genera within large families. In a two-way analysis, both flowering season and family membership exerted significant effects on flowering duration. These results demonstrate that the evolutionary influence on flowering time and duration can be observed at the community level when two factors are considered, i.e., the interaction of flowering parameters and the taxonomic composition of species within those communities.     

中国特有植物血水草开花物候与生殖特性

于2008年3-5月对分布在井冈山的血水草(Eomecon chionantha Hance )5个自然种群的开花物候进行了观察,运用开花振幅、相对开花强度和开花同步性等指数研究了其开花物候特征及其对该种生殖成功的影响.结果表明:血水草开花时间为3月下旬-5月上旬,种群花期历时24 ～46 d,个体平均开花持续时间为11～21 d,单花花期一般为3～5d;井冈山血水草种群的开花物候进程呈单峰曲线模式具有一个开花高峰期,表现出一种“集中开花模式”;与大多数亚热带植物一样,血水草具有较低的相对开花强度,分布频率集中在10％ ～30％.开花物候指数与生殖间的相关分析结果表明:始花时间与花期持续时间呈显著负相关,而与开花数和坐果率呈显著正相关;花期持续时间与开花数和坐果率呈显著正相关;同步性指数与始花时间、开花数、花期持续时间呈负相关.血水草“集中开花模式”是其在长期的进化过程中适应周围气候条件及生境的一种生殖保障.     

Plasticity, its cost, and phenotypic selection under water and nutrient stress in two annual grasses

A comparative approach can prove to be a useful tool for studying phenotypic plasticity, if applied to specific traits involved in adaptation to particular environment in more than one species across co-located populations. The present study tested whether two annual grasses, Hordeum spontaneum and Avena sterilis , belonging to the same guild, having similar stature, seed dispersal mechanism, breeding system, and genetic variation, and sampled in exactly the same environmentally specific locations, differed with respect to: (1) plasticity in traits involved in adaptation, namely the onset of reproduction and maternal investment involving the number of inflorescences, spikelets per inflorescence, the weight of individual spikelets, and abortion rate; (2) the cost of this plasticity, and (3) the pattern of phenotypic selection on the above traits. The two species exhibited highly differing amounts of phenotypic plasticity in the onset of flowering and several reproductive traits (number of inflorescences, spikelets per inflorescence, abortion rate), but no plasticity costs in any experimental environment. The two species demonstrated a decreasing similarity in the regulation of reproduction in four experimental environments: benign, water, nutrients and water × nutrient deficient. Correlational selection appears to contribute, although not solely, to the observed species differences with respect to the regulation of reproduction.  © 2009 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society , 2009, 97 , 581–593.     

Durian flowering, pollination and incompatibility studies

Seasonal fluctuations in weather conditions were found to influence the flowering and fruiting phenology and reproductive biology of durian grown around Darwin. Manually assisted cross-pollination resulted in higher fruit set of 31% in contrast to < 10% by selfing, producing higher yields and better quality fruit. Self-pollination resulted in more fruit abortion and produced fruits that were mis-shapen, curved with lower numbers of arils/locule, arils/fruit and lower numbers of seeds which were usually shrunken and disfunctional. Evidence from these studies also confirmed that the self-incompatibility system in durian is gametophytically controlled and that cultivars could be totally self-incompatible, partially self-incompatible or totally compatible. The durian pollen was found to exert metaxenia effects that influenced the development of the fruit characteristics and also xenia effect on the seed.     

Life-history QTLS and natural selection on flowering time in Boechera stricta, a perennial relative of Arabidopsis

Plants must precisely time flowering to capitalize on favorable conditions. Although we know a great deal about the genetic basis of flowering phenology in model species under controlled conditions, the genetic architecture of this ecologically important trait is poorly understood in nonmodel organisms. Here, we evaluated the transition from vegetative growth to flowering in Boechera stricta, a perennial relative of Arabidopsis thaliana. We examined flowering time QTLs using 7920 recombinant inbred individuals, across seven laboratory and field environments differing in vernalization, temperature, and photoperiod. Genetic and environmental factors strongly influenced the transition to reproduction. We found directional selection for earlier flowering in the field. In the growth chamber experiment, longer winters accelerated flowering, whereas elevated ambient temperatures delayed flowering. Our analyses identified one large effect QTL (nFT), which influenced flowering time in the laboratory and the probability of flowering in the field. In Montana, homozygotes for the native allele at nFT showed a selective advantage of 6.6%. Nevertheless, we found relatively low correlations between flowering times in the field and the growth chambers. Additionally, we detected flowering-related QTLs in the field that were absent across the full range of laboratory conditions, thus emphasizing the need to conduct experiments in natural environments.     

Low temperature influence on flowering in Citrus. The separation of inductive and bud dormancy releasing effects

The flowering response of Owari Satsuma mandarin ( Citrus unshiu Marc) to low temperature treatments has been determined using potted trees and in vitro bud cultures. In potted trees the chilling treatments released bud dormancy and enhanced both sprouting and flowering, but these two responses could not be separated. However, bud cultures showed no dormancy, and a specific effect of low temperature on flower induction was demonstrated. Low temperature appears to have a dual effect, releasing bud dormancy and inducing flowering. Potential flower buds have a deeper dormancy than vegetative buds, and the first stages of flower initiation seem to occur before the winter rest period.