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Isolation and characterization of GI and FKF1 homologous genes in the subtropical fruit tree Dimocarpus longan

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Abstract

Longan (Dimocarpus longan Lour.) is a subtropical fruit tree of significant economic importance. Flowering is a key event in longan and other fruit trees. In this study, GIGANTEA (GI) and FLAVIN-BINDING, KELCH REPEAT, F-BOX1 (FKF1) homologs were cloned from longan and named DlGI and DlFKF1, respectively. Translated sequences of DlGI and DlFKF1 revealed a high homology to GI and FKF1 sequences from other plants. DlGI and DlFKF1 transcript levels varied seasonally in the shoots and leaves during floral bud differentiation of longan. Expression levels of DlGI and DlFKF1 in the shoot tips increased and reached a peak in November which is the time of physiological differentiation of floral buds in longan. Ectopic overexpression of DlGI and DlFKF1 in Arabidopsis resulted in early-flowering phenotypes and adventitious root formation under LD conditions. The expression levels of YUCCA 9 and PIN-FORMED 2 were found to be elevated in DlGI-overexpressing and DlFKF1-overexpressing Arabidopsis plants under LD conditions. These results suggest that both DlGI and DlFKF1 are flowering promoters and they might be involved in the regulation of physiological differentiation of floral buds, inducing floral initiation by affecting endogenous auxin synthesis and transport in longan. Our results will provide more insight into flowering regulation in longan and woody plants.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Horticulture, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, Fujian, People’s Republic of China

    Fenna Huang, Zhiyuan Fu & Lihui Zeng

  2. Department of Wine, Food and Molecular Biosciences, Lincoln University, Lincoln, Canterbury, New Zealand

    Michael Morley-Bunker

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  1. Fenna Huang
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  2. Zhiyuan Fu
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  3. Lihui Zeng
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  4. Michael Morley-Bunker
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Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: LZ, FH. Performed the experiments: FH, ZF. Analyzed the data: FH. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: FH, ZF. Wrote the paper: LZ, FH, MMB.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lihui Zeng.

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Huang, F., Fu, Z., Zeng, L. et al. Isolation and characterization of GI and FKF1 homologous genes in the subtropical fruit tree Dimocarpus longan . Mol Breeding 37, 90 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11032-017-0691-z

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