LAUSR.org creates dashboard-style pages of related content for over 1.5 million academic articles. Sign Up to like articles & get recommendations!

Auxin controls circadian flower opening and closure in the waterlily

Photo from wikipedia

BackgroundFlowers open at sunrise and close at sunset, establishing a circadian floral movement rhythm to facilitate pollination as part of reproduction. By the coordination of endogenous factors and environmental stimuli,… Click to show full abstract

BackgroundFlowers open at sunrise and close at sunset, establishing a circadian floral movement rhythm to facilitate pollination as part of reproduction. By the coordination of endogenous factors and environmental stimuli, such as circadian clock, photoperiod, light and temperature, an appropriate floral movement rhythm has been established; however, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear.ResultsIn our study, we use waterlily as a model which represents an early-diverging grade of flowering plants, and we aim to reveal the general mechanism of flower actions. We found that the intermediate segment of petal cells of waterlily are highly flexible, followed by a circadian cell expansion upon photoperiod stimuli. Auxin causes constitutively flower opening while auxin inhibitor suppresses opening event. Subsequent transcriptome profiles generated from waterlily’s intermediate segment of petals at different day-time points showed that auxin is a crucial phytohormone required for floral movement rhythm via the coordination of YUCCA-controlled auxin synthesis, GH3-mediated auxin homeostasis, PIN and ABCB-dependent auxin efflux as well as TIR/AFB-AUX/IAA- and SAUR-triggered auxin signaling. Genes involved in cell wall organization were downstream of auxin events, resulting in the output phenotypes of rapid cell expansion during flower opening and cell shrinkage at flower closure stage.ConclusionsCollectively, our data demonstrate a central regulatory role of auxin in floral movement rhythm and provide a global understanding of flower action in waterlily, which could be a conserved feature of angiosperms.

Keywords: movement rhythm; flower opening; floral movement; flower; auxin

Journal Title: BMC Plant Biology
Year Published: 2018

Link to full text (if available)


Share on Social Media:                               Sign Up to like & get
recommendations!

Related content

More Information              News              Social Media              Video              Recommended



                Click one of the above tabs to view related content.