Constitutive expression of , a ortholog of pigeon pea ( [L.] Millspaugh) delays flowering in transgenic tobacco plants.

UNLABELLED

of pigeon pea, a candidate anti-florigen gene and a close homolog of () of the PEBP family has been characterized through constitutive expression in tobacco. analysis helped to demonstrate the absence of a nuclear binding domain and the conserveness of substrate binding sites of this protein across angiosperms. Transgenic tobacco lines with 2-eightfold higher expressions of showed delayed flowering (26-32 days) along with significant morphological changes, including vegetative vigour, number and size of flowers, fruit setting, etc. Together, these findings showed that not only delays floral transition through repression but also regulates a variety of developmental traits. Expression profiling of upstream and downstream interacting pathway genes explained that their expression modulation led to a prolonged vegetative phase of over-expressed lines. Floral inducer genes like and were drastically down-regulated in transgenic lines, reconfirming the role of the gene in floral regulation. In conclusion, precisely controlling gene expression may prove useful for refining pigeon pea breeding.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12298-025-01572-8.