Analysis of pea mutants reveals the conserved role of FRUITFULL controlling the end of flowering and its potential to boost yield

Irene Martínez-Fernández, Chloe Fourquin, Donna Lindsay, Ana Berbel, Vicente Balanzà, Shaoming Huang, Marion Dalmais, Christine LeSignor, Abdelhafid Bendahmane, Thomas D. Warkentin, Francisco Madueño, Cristina Ferrándiz

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

3 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Monocarpic plants have a single reproductive phase in their life. Therefore, flower and fruit production are restricted to the length of this period. This reproductive strategy involves the regulation of flowering cessation by a coordinated arrest of the growth of the inflorescence meristems, optimizing resource allocation to ensure seed filling. Flowering cessation appears to be a regulated phenomenon in all monocarpic plants. Early studies in several species identified seed production as a major factor triggering inflorescence proliferative arrest. Recently, genetic factors controlling inflorescence arrest, in parallel to the putative signals elicited by seed production, have started to be uncovered in Arabidopsis, with the MADS-box gene FRUITFULL (FUL) playing a central role in the process. However, whether the genetic network regulating arrest is also at play in other species is completely unknown. Here, we show that this role of FUL is not restricted to Arabidopsis but is conserved in another monocarpic species with a different inflorescence structure, field pea, strongly suggesting that the network controlling the end of flowering is common to other plants. Moreover, field trials with lines carrying mutations in pea FUL genes show that they could be used to boost crop yield.

Original languageEnglish
Article numbere2321975121
JournalProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Volume121
Issue number15
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 9 Apr 2024
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • end of flowering
  • FRUITFULL
  • pea
  • proliferative arrest

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