Journal
JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BOTANY
Volume 69, Issue 12, Pages 2937-2952Publisher
OXFORD UNIV PRESS
DOI: 10.1093/jxb/ery110
Keywords
Autonomous flowering; carbon sensing; circadian clock; floral induction; florigen; gene networks; maize migration; photoperiod
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Funding
- Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
- Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research (MIUR)
- National Research Council of Italy (CNR) for EPIGEN
- Epigenomics Flagship Project
- NSERC Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Doctoral scholarship
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Temperate maize was domesticated from its tropical ancestor, teosinte. Whereas temperate maize is an autonomous day-neutral plant, teosinte is an obligate short-day plant that requires uninterrupted long nights to induce flowering. Leaf-derived florigenic signals trigger reproductive growth in both teosinte and temperate maize. To study the genetic mechanisms underlying floral inductive pathways in maize and teosinte, mRNA and small RNA genome-wide expression analyses were conducted on leaf tissue from plants that were induced or not induced to flower. Transcriptome profiles reveal common differentially expressed genes during floral induction, but a comparison of candidate flowering time genes indicates that photoperiod and autonomous pathways act independently. Expression differences in teosinte are consistent with the current paradigm for photoperiod-induced flowering, where changes in circadian clock output trigger florigen production. Conversely, differentially expressed genes in temperate maize link carbon partitioning and flowering, but also show altered expression of circadian clock genes that are distinct from those altered upon photoperiodic induction in teosinte. Altered miRNA399 levels in both teosinte and maize suggest a novel common connection between flowering and phosphorus perception. These findings provide insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying a strengthened autonomous pathway that enabled maize growth throughout temperate regions.
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