Floral determination in the terminal bud of the short-day plant Pharbitis nil

Temporal and spatial aspects of floral determination in seedling terminal buds of the qualitative short-day plant Pharbitis nil were examined using a grafting assay. Floral determination in the terminal buds of 6-day-old P. nil seedlings is rapid; by 9 hr after the end of a 14-hr inductive dark period more than 50% of the induced terminal buds grafted onto uninduced stock plants produced a full complement of flower buds. When grafted at early times after the end of the dark period the terminal buds of induced plants produced three discrete populations of plants: plants with no flowers, plants with two axillary flowers at nodes 3 and 4 and a vegetative terminal shoot apex, and plants with five to seven flowers including a terminal flower. The temporal relationship among these populations of plants produced by apices grafted at different times indicates that under our conditions, the region of the terminal bud that will form the axillary buds at nodes 3 and 4 becomes florally determined prior to floral determination of the region of the terminal bud giving rise to the nodes above node 4.     

A yeast mitotic activator sensitises the shoot apical meristem to become floral in day-neutral tobacco

True day-neutral (DN) plants flower regardless of day-length and yet they flower at characteristic stages. DN Nicotiana tabacum cv. Samsun, makes about forty nodes before flowering. The question still persists whether flowering starts because leaves become physiologically able to export sufficient floral stimulus or the shoot apical meristem (SAM) acquires developmental competence to interpret its arrival. This question was addressed using tobacco expressing the Schizosaccharomyces pombe cell cycle gene, Spcdc25, as a tool. Spcdc25 expression induces early flowering and we tested a hypothesis that this phenotype arises because of premature floral competence of the SAM. Scions of vegetative Spcdc25 plants were grafted onto stocks of vegetative WT together with converse grafts and flowering onset followed (as the time since sowing and number of leaves formed till flowering). Spcdc25 plants flowered significantly earlier with fewer leaves, and, unlike WT, also formed flowers from axillary buds. Scions from vegetative Spcdc25 plants also flowered precociously when grafted to vegetative WT stocks. However, in a WT scion to Spcdc25 stock, the plants flowered at the same time as WT. SAMs from young vegetative Spcdc25 plants were elongated (increase in SAM convexity determined by tracing a circumference of SAM sections) with a pronounced meristem surface cell layers compared with WT. Presumably, Spcdc25 SAMs were competent for flowering earlier than WT and responded to florigenic signal produced even in young vegetative WT plants. Precocious reproductive competence in Spcdc25 SAMs comprised a pronounced mantle, a trait of prefloral SAMs. Hence, we propose that true DN plants export florigenic signal since early developmental stages but the SAM has to acquire competence to respond to the floral stimulus.     

嫁接黄瓜地上部的南瓜根系分泌物对种子萌发的影响

经嫁接黄瓜接穗的南瓜根系分泌物对黄瓜和南瓜的发芽率和胚根、胚轴的伸长均具有明显的抑制作用.分析表明:嫁接黄瓜根系分泌物可以促进黄瓜和南瓜体内吲哚乙酸氧化酶的活性,抑制淀粉酶的活性,从而降低其吲哚乙酸(IAA)水平,影响子叶中贮藏物质的转化和利用,抑制其萌发和生长.     

Phyllody Malformation in Flowers of Rosaxhybrida cv. Motrea: Effects of Rootstocks, Flower Position, Growth Regulators and Season

Phyllody, a common malformation of Rosaxhybrida cv. Motrea,is characterized by the formation of vegetative structures inplace of stamens and carpels. The incidence of phyllody in thiscultivar is dependent on the type of the root system. The highestproportion of malformed flowers was found in ungrafted plants,this decreased in plants grafted on R. indica major and waslowest on R. canina inermis. Flowers formed on shoots, whichwere located closer to the roots, were more prone to phyllodythan those grown on the upper part of the plants. The incidenceof phyllody was lower in winter than in summer, while shadingof the plants reduced the proportion of malformed flowers regardlessof their root system and the season. Application of gibberellicacid (GA₃) or benzylaminopurine (BAP) greatly promoted the incidenceof phyllody, while paclobutrazol (PBZ) reduced it. The activityof endogenous cytokinins in the xylem exudates from ungraftedplants was higher than in exudates from those grafted on R.indica major, and the lowest activity was found in exudatesfrom plants grafted on R. canina inermis. The involvement ofplant hormones in the development of floral organs in rose flowersis discussed. Key words: Cytokinins, flower malformation, gibberellic acid, homeosis, phyllody, roses     

Effetto della rimozione dei fiori sulla crescita delle piante e sul contenuto in leghemoglobina dei tubercoli radicali di pisello e fava

Abstract

Observations on vegetative growth and leghemoglobin contents of root nodules of pea and bean plants after flower bud removal. — These studies found their origin in the papers by MATTIROLO (1899) on the effect of the removal of flowers as they formed in bean plants; he observed that deflowering resulted in extraordinary plant growth, stem branching and flower buds formation as well as in a delayed root nodule senescence. In the light of modern knowledge of the leghemoglobin role in symbiotic nitrogen fixation, the aim of the present research was to ascertain any possible relation between flower bud removal and haeme pigment contents in the root nodules. The experiments were carried out during two growing seasons (1966 and 1970) using Vicia faba L. cv. Regina and Pisum sativum L. cv. Senatore during 1966 and cv. Vittoria in 1970. In both control and test plants the seasonal trends of average plant height, fresh and dry weight of vegetative portions, fresh and dry weight of root system, fresh weight of nodules, root nodule leghemoglobin concentration and total leghemoglobin content per plant, were determined. The data obtained are quoted in Table 2 and reported in Figures 1, 2, and 3. The removal of flower buds caused in both species: an increased plant growth, a marked stem branching, a longer blooming period, an increased flower number, an increased root nodule number and a certain delay in root nodule reabsorption. Deflowering did not significantly extend — at least in the species studied — life span (senescence was delayed only of one week). On the basis of these and of other Authors' results, we conclude that deflowering may actually delay senescence; the size of this delay, however, depends on the plant species considered and is fairly negligible both in pea and bean. The different effects of deflowering and of preventing floral induction on life span extension, are discussed, and these facts lead to consider floral induction as the onset of a chain of processes leading annual plants toward senescence in a more or less delayable, but definitive way. After having stressed the generally accepted importance of leghemoglobin concentration as an index of nodule nitrogen fixing ability, a correlation between biomass increase of test plants and number and total weight increase of root nodules, is put in evidence. No correlation between test plant biomass and the leghemoglobin concentration in root nodules, was however observed. Leghemoglobin concentration in root nodules is known to change in connection with various factors depending either on host plants and on Rhizobium strains and also in connection with several environmental conditions. Any prevented flower onset (ROPONEN and VIRTANEN, 1968) and deflowering (our data) however exerted no significant influence. The effects of flower bud removal were therefore the following: increased stem, leaf and root weights and increased root nodule number; no difference between control and test plants was however observed as regards size and leghemoglobin concentration of root nodules and hence probably no difference as regards their nitrogen fixing ability.     

丝瓜作砧木提高黄瓜耐涝性的研究

研究了涝害胁迫下黄瓜自根苗、南瓜砧嫁接苗和丝瓜砧嫁接苗的耐涝性能。结果表明：涝害胁迫时,丝瓜砧嫁接苗能维持较高的根系活力与较高的叶绿素含量;根系电解质渗出率、丙二醛（MDA）含量和超氧阴离子自由基（O2-）的含量 显著低于黄瓜自根苗和南瓜砧嫁接苗;根系SOD、POD和CAT等细胞保护酶活性高于黄瓜自根苗和南瓜砧嫁接苗;丝瓜作砧木可以提高黄瓜的耐涝性。     

丝瓜作砧木提高黄瓜耐涝性的研究

研究了涝害胁迫下黄瓜自根苗、南瓜砧嫁接苗和丝瓜砧嫁接苗的耐涝性能。结果表明：涝害胁迫时,丝瓜砧嫁接苗能维持较高的根系活力与较高的叶绿素含量;根系电解质渗出率、丙二醛(MDA)含量和超氧阴离子自由基(O2^-)的含量显著低于黄瓜自根苗和南瓜砧嫁接苗;根系SOD、POD和CAT等细胞保护酶活性高于黄瓜自根苗和南瓜砧嫁接苗;丝瓜作砧木可以提高黄瓜的耐涝性。     

Influence of leaves and roots on meristem development inNicotiana tabacum L. cv. Wisconsin 38

The terminal, apical shoot meristem ofN. tabacum cv. Wisconsin 38 normally differentiates into a flower after producing 30 to 40 nodes. The influence of leaves and roots on the regulation of flowering was evaluated by counting the number of nodes produced after removal of leaves or the induction of adventitious roots. Leaf removal has no effect on the number of nodes produced before flower formation. Root induction significantly increases the number of nodes produced before flower formation. The plant behaves as if it were measuring the number of nodes between the meristem and the roots as a means of regulating meristem conversion from vegetative to floral differentiation.     

黄瓜离体子叶切块培养直接分化花芽

４８小时龄黄瓜幼苗的子叶切块接种于附加２．０ｍｇ／ＬＢＡ及１．０ｍｇ／ＬＡｇＮＯ３的修改ＭＳ培养基上,培养约６０天后在子叶切块的近轴端可直接形成雄花芽,其频率达７．７％。     

Na2CO3处理对黄瓜嫁接苗与自根苗耐盐性的影响

通过Na2CO3,胁迫对黄瓜嫁接苗和自根苗耐盐性差异的研究,揭示黄瓜幼苗的耐盐机制,为设施黄瓜生产提供理论依据。实验以孝感早瓠瓜为砧木,津春四号黄瓜为接穗,采用不同浓度Na2CO3,溶液对黄瓜嫁接苗和自根苗进行处理,研究其对黄瓜幼苗的生理胁迫效应。结果表明：在0—7000mg／L范围内,随着Na2CO3,处理浓度的增加,黄瓜嫁接苗和自根苗的株高、茎粗、叶面积、地上部鲜重、根鲜重、叶绿素和根系活力均下降,但嫁接苗受抑制的程度显著低于自根苗;脯氨酸、丙二醛和根冠比均呈上升趋势,且这三项指标均表现为嫁接苗显著高于自根苗;叶片SOD酶活性均呈先上升后下降趋势,均在Na2CO3,处理浓度为1000mg／L时达到最大值,且嫁接苗的活性显著高于自根苗。嫁接苗的耐盐性优于自根苗,Na2CO3胁迫条件下,嫁接苗和自根苗的生长条件盐浓度以不超过3000mg／L为宜。     

Phenotypic effects of overexpression of Agrobacterium rhizogenes T-DNA ORF13 in transgenic tobacco plants are mediated by diffusible factor(s)

Nicotiana tabacum cv. Xanthi transgenic plants expressing ORF13 of Agrobacterium rhizogenes 8196 T-DNA under the 35S RNA promoter from the cauliflower mosaic virus displayed developmental abnormalities. They were small, with short and variable internodal lengths, their root systems were poorly developed; leaves were small, asymmetric, rounded, wrinkled and dark green; flowers were short, and irregularly shaped. They exhibited reduced apical dominance and regularly produced offshoots at the base of the plant. This phenotype was also exhibited by offshoots of normal N. tabacum cv. Xanthi stock grafted with a transgenic scion indicating that expression of ORF13 influences plant development via diffusible factor(s).     

NaCl胁迫对番茄嫁接苗生物量及离子含量的影响

以影武者为砧木,宝大903为接穗,研究了NaCl胁迫下番茄嫁接苗与接穗自根苗在生物量及Na 、K 、Ca2 、Mg2 、Cl-等含量方面的差异.结果显示,NaCl胁迫下,嫁接苗生长受抑制程度较轻;嫁接苗和自根苗Na 、Cl-含量增长幅度最大的部位均是叶片,嫁接苗增长幅度小于自根苗;K 、Ca2 、Mg2 含量下降幅度最大的部位均是根系,嫁接苗下降幅度小于自根苗;嫁接苗的K /Na 值、Ca2 /Na 值显著高于自根苗,说明嫁接苗选择性吸收K 、Ca2 能力显著强于自根苗.结果表明,NaCl胁迫下嫁接苗体内离子分布的区域化优于自根苗,耐盐性强于自根苗.     

The effects of rootstock and scion on tobacco mosaic virus infection in susceptible, tolerant and immune cultivars of tomato

Reciprocal grafts were made between tomato cultivars Potentate, susceptible, and Virocross, tolerant (heterozygous for resistance gene Tm-i) to tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) isolates of Pelham type o and between isogenic lines of cv. Craigella, susceptible and homozygous for gene Tm-i. The grafted plants were inoculated with a type o isolate; both scion and stock inoculation were studied in the former, scion inoculation only, in the latter. With scion inoculation the virus content of a tolerant scion was greater on a susceptible stock than on a tolerant one, but that of a susceptible scion was unaffected by the type of stock: in contrast, the virus content of a tolerant stock was unaffected by the type of scion but that of a susceptible stock was less with a tolerant than with a susceptible scion. With root inoculation the virus contents of both tolerant and susceptible scions were greater on a susceptible than on a tolerant stock. With cv. Craigella the genotype Tm-1/Tm-1 was found to be immune to the type o isolate used, but in grafts the leaves of Tm-1/Tm-1 scions became tolerant to leaf inoculation when on susceptible stocks and the virus entered the stock. Tm-1/Tm-1 stocks became infected when attached to infected, susceptible scions and did not affect the virus content of those scions. The results indicate that a susceptible healthy stock may change the reaction of a tolerant or immune scion to infection by a strain of TMV.     

A petunia MADS box gene involved in the transition from vegetative to reproductive development.

We have identified a novel petunia MADS box gene, PETUNIA FLOWERING GENE (PFG), which is involved in the transition from vegetative to reproductive development. PFG is expressed in the entire plant except stamens, roots and seedlings. Highest expression levels of PFG are found in vegetative and inflorescence meristems. Inhibition of PFG expression in transgenic plants, using a cosuppression strategy, resulted in a unique nonflowering phenotype. Homozygous pfg cosuppression plants are blocked in the formation of inflorescences and maintain vegetative growth. In these mutants, the expression of both PFG and the MADS box gene FLORAL BINDING PROTEIN26 (FBP26), the putative petunia homolog of SQUAMOSA from Antirrhinum, are down-regulated. In hemizygous pfg cosuppression plants initially a few flowers are formed, after which the meristem reverts to the vegetative phase. This reverted phenotype suggests that PFG, besides being required for floral transition, is also required to maintain the reproductive identity after this transition. The position of PFG in the hierarchy of genes controlling floral meristem development was investigated using a double mutant of the floral meristem identity mutant aberrant leaf and flower (alf) and the pfg cosuppression mutant. This analysis revealed that the pfg cosuppression phenotype is epistatic to the alf mutant phenotype, indicating that PFG acts early in the transition to flowering. These results suggest that the petunia MADS box gene, PFG, functions as an inflorescence meristem identity gene required for the transition of the vegetative shoot apex to the reproductive phase and the maintenance of reproductive identity.     

Developmental morphology of branching flowers in Nymphaea prolifera

Nymphaea and Nuphar (Nymphaeaceae) share an extra-axillary mode of floral inception in the shoot apical meristem (SAM). Some leaf sites along the ontogenetic spiral are occupied by floral primordia lacking a subtending bract. This pattern of flower initiation in leaf sites is repeated inside branching flowers of Nymphaea prolifera (Central and South America). Instead of fertile flowers this species usually produces sterile tuberiferous flowers that act as vegetative propagules. N. prolifera changes the meristem identity from reproductive to vegetative or vice versa repeatedly. Each branching flower first produces some perianth-like leaves, then it switches back to the vegetative meristem identity of the SAM with the formation of foliage leaves and another set of branching flowers. This process is repeated up to three times giving rise to more than 100 vegetative propagules. The developmental morphology of the branching flowers of N. prolifera is described using both microtome sections and scanning electron microscopy.     

Grafting of cucumber as a means to minimize copper toxicity

The aim of the current work was to determine whether grafting could improve copper (Cu) tolerance of cucumber, and to study the changes induced by the rootstock in the shoot growth at agronomical and physiological levels. A greenhouse experiment was carried out to determine yield, growth, fruit quality, leaf gas exchange, chlorophyll and carotenoids contents, electrolyte leakage, mineral composition and assimilate partitioning of cucumber plants (Cucumis sativus L. cv. ‘Akito’), either ungrafted or grafted onto the commercial rootstock ‘Shintoza’ (Cucurbita maxima Duchesne × Cucurbita moschata Duchesne) and cultured in nutrient film technique (NFT). Plants were supplied with nutrient solutions having three levels of Cu concentration [0.3 (control), 47, or 94 μM]. Significant depression of yield, shoot and root biomass production, and fruit quality (low fruit pH, and high Cu content) in Cu treated cucumber plants was observed, and this effect varied as a function of Cu concentration in NFT solution. The relative yield of cucumber decreased by ≈3.4% for each unit of increase in leaf tissue Cu concentrations above the threshold value (7.8 μg g⁻¹). At the two higher Cu concentrations (47 and 94 μM Cu), the percentages of yield, shoot and root biomass weight reductions were significantly lower in grafted plants in comparison to those of the ungrafted plants. Excessive Cu, especially at 94 μM Cu, inhibited photosynthesis, pigment synthesis, and membrane integrity. The Cu-related reductions in net assimilation, stomatal conductance, chlorophyll and carotenoid content were more severe in ungrafted plants in comparison with those grafted on 'Shintoza’. The percentage of electrolyte leakage was significantly higher in ungrafted plants especially those with severe Cu toxicity (94 μM Cu). The accumulation of Cu in leaf tissue at 47 and 94 μM Cu, with respect to control, were significantly lower in grafted plants (138 and 181%, respectively) in comparison to that of ungrafted plants (about 235 and 392%, respectively). Significant reduction of macro- (N, K, Ca and Mg) and micro-elements (Fe, Mn and Zn) in cucumber leaf tissue was found under moderate and severe Cu stresses especially on ungrafted plants. The improved crop performance of grafted plants was attributed to their strong capacity to inhibit Cu accumulation in the aerial parts and to maintain a better plant nutritional status.     

嫁接对铜胁迫下黄瓜幼苗根系多胺代谢的影响

采用营养液栽培法,研究了嫁接(以黑籽南瓜为砧木)对铜胁迫下黄瓜幼苗根系活力及多胺代谢的影响.结果表明:铜胁迫下黄瓜幼苗根系活力下降,电解质渗漏率升高,而嫁接苗的变化幅度显著小于黄瓜自根苗;铜胁迫下黄瓜嫁接植株根系中除游离态腐胺(Put)含量显著低于自根苗外,结合态和束缚态Put、3种形态亚精胺(Spd)和精胺(Spm)含量均显著高于自根苗,嫁接苗根系中游离态Put含量及腐胺/多胺(Put/PAs)显著低于自根苗;铜胁迫下,嫁接苗根系精氨酸脱羧酶(ADC)、鸟氨酸脱羧酶(ODC)和S-腺苷蛋氨酸脱羧酶(SAMDC)活性高于自根苗,而二胺氧化酶(DAO)和多胺氧化酶(PAO)活性显著低于自根苗.表明嫁接黄瓜幼苗根系PAs的合成增加,降解减少,使PAs含量维持在较高水平,从而提高了黄瓜幼苗抗铜胁迫能力.     

Functional decoupling between flowers and leaves in the Ameroglossum pernambucense complex can facilitate local adaptation across a pollinator and climatic heterogeneous landscape

Decoupling between floral and leaf traits is expected in plants with specialized pollination systems to assure a precise flower–pollinator fit, irrespective of leaf variation associated with environmental heterogeneity (functional modularity). Nonetheless, developmental interactions among floral traits also decouple flowers from leaves regardless of selection pressures (developmental modularity). We tested functional modularity in the hummingbird‐pollinated flowers of the Ameroglossum pernambucense complex while controlling for developmental modularity. Using two functional traits responsible for flower–pollinator fit [floral tube length (TL) and anther–nectary distance (AN)], one floral trait not linked to pollination [sepal length (SL), control for developmental modularity] and one leaf trait [leaf length (LL)], we found evidence of flower functional modularity. Covariation between TL and AN was ca. two‐fold higher than the covariation of either of these traits with sepal and leaf lengths, and variations in TL and AN, important for a precise flower–pollinator fit, were smaller than SL and LL variations. Furthermore, we show that previously reported among‐population variation of flowers associated with local pollinator phenotypes was independent from SL and LL variations. These results suggest that TL and AN are functionally linked to fit pollinators and sufficiently decoupled from developmentally related floral traits (SL) and vegetative traits (LL). These results support previous evidences of population differentiation due to local adaptation in the A. pernambucense complex and shed light on the role of flower–leaf decoupling for local adaptation in species distributed across biotic and abiotic heterogeneous landscapes.     

Intergeneric Translocation of Floral Stimulus across a Graft in Monoecious Cucurbitaceae with Special Reference to the Sex Expression of Flowers

The effect of floral stimulus on flower sex expression in monoeciouscucurbits was examined using a qualitative short-day plant,Sicyos angulatus L. Sicyos was induced to flower not only bygrafting it onto a flower-induced plant of the same speciesbut also by intergeneric grafting Onto the day-neutral plantCucumis sativus L. or the quantitative short-day plant Luffacylindrica Roem under noninductive long-day conditions. Sicyosplant grafted onto various cucumber varieties having differentgenetic backgrounds for their sex expression developed bothstaminate and pistillate inflorescences with similar sex expression.When the availability of floral stimulus was restricted as inthe case of grafting of Sicyos onto young cucumber seedlingsat the cotyledonary stage, most inflorescences appearing onthe Sicyos were staminate ones. Pistillate flowers formed onthe cucumber receptors substantially increased when they weregrafted onto Sicyos donors which had a sufficient number ofleaves induced by short-days as compared with those graftedonto noninduced ones. These results suggest that the availabilityof floral stimulus participates in the sex expression of flowersin Cucurbitaceae. Undeveloped pistillate inflorescences, whichoccasionally appear on Sicyos scion, flowered normally whenN⁶-benzylaminopurine was directly applied to the inflorescence. (Received February 27, 1981; Accepted October 16, 1981)