Bin Jing, Tan Qinghua, Wen Shiyun, Huang Licheng, Wang Huimin, Imtiaz Muhammad, Zhang Zhisheng, Guo Herong, Xie Li, Zeng Ruizhen, Wei Qian
Guangdong Province Key Laboratory of Plant Molecular Breeding, College of Forestry and Landscape Architecture, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China.
College of Horticulture, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China.
Plants (Basel). 2024 Mar 6;13(5):742. doi: 10.3390/plants13050742.
Nuclear Factor Y (NF-Y) is a class of heterotrimeric transcription factors composed of three subunits: NF-A, NF-YB, and NF-YC. NF-YC family members play crucial roles in various developmental processes, particularly in the regulation of flowering time. However, their functions in petunia remain poorly understood. In this study, we isolated four genes from petunia and confirmed their subcellular localization in both the nucleus and cytoplasm. We analyzed the transcript abundance of all four genes and found that and were highly expressed in apical buds and leaves, with their transcript levels decreasing before flower bud differentiation. Silencing using VIGS resulted in a delayed flowering time and reduced chlorophyll content, while -silenced plants only exhibited a delayed flowering time. Furthermore, we detected the transcript abundance of flowering-related genes involved in different signaling pathways and found that , , , , and were regulated by both and . Additionally, the transcript abundance of , , and increased only in -silenced plants. Overall, these results provide evidence that and negatively regulate flowering time in petunia by modulating a series of flowering-related genes.
核因子Y（NF-Y）是一类由三个亚基组成的异源三聚体转录因子：NF-A、NF-YB和NF-YC。NF-YC家族成员在各种发育过程中发挥着关键作用，尤其是在开花时间的调控方面。然而，它们在矮牵牛中的功能仍知之甚少。在本研究中，我们从矮牵牛中分离出四个基因，并证实了它们在细胞核和细胞质中的亚细胞定位。我们分析了这四个基因的转录丰度，发现其中两个基因在顶芽和叶片中高表达，其转录水平在花芽分化前下降。利用病毒诱导基因沉默（VIGS）技术沉默其中一个基因导致开花时间延迟和叶绿素含量降低，而沉默另一个基因的植株仅表现出开花时间延迟。此外，我们检测了参与不同信号通路的开花相关基因的转录丰度，发现其中一些基因受这两个基因的调控。另外，某些基因的转录丰度仅在沉默其中一个基因的植株中增加。总体而言，这些结果表明这两个基因通过调节一系列开花相关基因对矮牵牛的开花时间起负调控作用。
