Two AGL2-like MADS-box genes, Lily MADS Box Gene (LMADS) 3 and LMADS4, with extensive homology of LMADS3 to the Arabidopsis SEPALLATA3 were characterized from the lily (Lilium longiflorum). Both LMADS3 and LMADS4 mRNA were detected in the inflorescence meristem, in floral buds of different developmental stages, and in all four whorls of the flower organ. LMADS4 mRNA is also expressed in vegetat...

Effects of NPK 15:15:15 compound fertilizer and planting season on flowering and sex expression of pumpkin were analyzed at the Teaching and Research Farm, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria in year 2010. Results deciphered that day to 50% flowering, number of male and female flowers responded to season than fertilizer rates. Late season planting reached 50% flowering 5 days earlier t...

Much of the flowering time variation in wild strains of Arabidopsis thaliana is due to allelic variation at two epistatically acting loci, FRIGIDA (FRI) and FLOWERING LOCUS C (FLC). FLC encodes a MADS (MCM1/AGAMOUS/DEFICIENS/SRF1) domain transcription factor that directly represses a series of flowering-promoting genes. FRI and FLC, however, do not explain all of the observed variation, especia...

Flower development at the shoot apex is initiated in response to environmental cues. Day length is one of the most important of these and is perceived in the leaves. A systemic signal, called the floral stimulus or florigen, is then transmitted from the leaves through the phloem and induces floral development at the shoot apex. Genetic analysis in Arabidopsis identified a pathway of genes requi...

The rice (Oryza sativa) E3 ligase SPOTTED LEAF11 (SPL11) negatively regulates programmed cell death and disease resistance. We demonstrate here that SPL11 also regulates flowering via interaction with SPIN1 (for SPL11-interacting protein1), a Signal Transduction and Activation of RNA family member. SPIN1 binds RNA and DNA in vitro and interacts with SPL11 in the nucleus. Spl11 mutants have dela...

Phenological patterns of flowering and fruiting can be influenced by the effects of reproductive time on seed production. We propose here that these patterns are also influenced by phenological effects on offspring quality. Furthermore, we hypothesize that there are cross-generational trade-offs between parental and offspring components of parental fitness influencing the evolution of reproduct...

Jatropha curcas is a promising feedstock for biofuel production because Jatropha oil is highly suitable for the production of biodiesel and bio-jet fuels. However, Jatropha exhibits a low seed yield as a result of unreliable and poor flowering. APETALA1 (AP1) is a floral meristem and organ identity gene in higher plants. The flower meristem identity genes of Jatropha have not yet been identifie...

The phase transition from vegetative to reproductive growth is a critical event in the life cycle of flowering plants. FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT) plays a central role in the regulation of this transition by integrating signals from multiple flowering pathways in the leaves and transmitting them to the shoot apical meristem. In this study, we characterized FT homologs in the temperate grasses Brachy...

As an extremely early flowering cultivar, rice cultivar Kitaake is a suitable model system for molecular studies. Expression analyses revealed that transcript levels of the flowering repressor Ghd7 were decreased while those of its downstream genes, Ehd1, Hd3a, and RFT1, were increased. Sequencing the known flowering-regulator genes revealed mutations in Ghd7 and OsPRR37 that cause early transl...