Assessing Functional Conservation Amongst <i>FT</i>- and <i>TFL1</i>-like Genes in Globe Artichoke
Rick Berentsen | María José Domenech | Peter Visser | Francisco Madueño | Vicente Balanzà | Reyes Benlloch
Globe artichoke [<i>Cynara cardunculus</i> var. <i>scolymus</i> (L.)] is a perennial composite cultivated for its immature inflorescences. Over time, the market for growers has steadily shifted away from vegetatively propagated varieties and towards seed-propagated hybrids. Since the latter tend to produce relatively late in the season, advancing the moment of flowering remains a major objective for breeders, who can benefit from insight gained into the genetic architecture of this trait. In plants, the timing of flowering is strongly regulated at the genetic level to ensure reproductive success. Genetic studies in model and non-model species have identified gene families playing crucial roles in flowering time control. One of these is the phosphatidylethanolamine-binding protein (PEBP) family, a conserved group of genes that, in plants, not only regulate the vegetative-to-reproductive phase transition, but also the development of inflorescences. In this work, we identified seven PEBP family members in the globe artichoke genome, belonging to three major clades: <i>MOTHER OF FT AND TFL1 (MFT)</i>-like, <i>TERMINAL FLOWER 1 (TFL1)</i>-like, and <i>FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT)</i>-like. Our results further show that <i>CcFT</i> expression is upregulated after the floral transition and partially complements the <i>ft-10</i> mutant, whilst <i>CcTFL1</i> is expressed in the shoot apex and developing inflorescences and complements the <i>tfl1-1</i> mutant. These results suggest that the flowering-suppressing function of <i>CcTFL1</i> is conserved in globe artichoke whereas conservation of the floral promoting function of <i>CcFT</i> remains uncertain.
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