Abstract
Adequate flower formation limits dependable apple ( Malus × domestica ) production and is a major challenge for apple industries around the world. ‘Honeycrisp’ is a high value apple cultivar, but consistent flowering is difficult to achieve. Apple flower formation is affected by factors including defoliation, girdling, and gibberellin (GA 4+7 ) and 1-naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA) applications. However, the molecular mechanisms that regulate the effects of these factors are not well understood. We studied the effect of local spur defoliation, GA 4+7 and NAA applications on ‘Honeycrisp’ flower formation. Furthermore, we investigated the effect of local defoliation and local GA 4+7 application on the transcript levels of two major flower formation genes in the meristems of apple spurs. The floral inhibition gene terminal flower1-1 ( MdTFL1-1) and floral promoting genes flowering locus T ( MdFT1 and MdFT 2 ) of apple. Local application of GA 4+7 and defoliation treatments inhibited flower formation, but NAA applications were without effect. Defoliation treatments were accompanied by a significant reduction in MdFT1, 2 transcript levels compared with controls early in the growing season. Conversely, GA 4+7 application was accompanied by a significant increase in MdTFL1-1 transcripts compared with controls throughout the growing season. These results indicate that GA 4+7 inhibits flower formation by upregulating the inhibitory MdTFL1-1, and defoliation acts by downregulating transcript levels of MdFT1, 2 early in the growing season. We also provide evidence that defoliated bourse buds may receive flowering promotion signals from other parts of the tree in the absence of their local leaves.
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Claims 8
Claim · model-written summary
Local GA 4+7 application inhibited apple flower formation.
- Taxon
- Apple
Malus domesticat0 - Treatment
- GA 4+7e0
- Outcome
- flower formatione0
- Direction
- inhibitede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Local application of GA 4+7 and defoliation treatments inhibited flower formation”
t0“Apple”
Claim · model-written summary
Local defoliation inhibited apple flower formation.
- Taxon
- AppleMalus domesticat0
- Treatment
- defoliation treatmentse0
- Outcome
- flower formatione0
- Direction
- inhibitede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Local application of GA 4+7 and defoliation treatments inhibited flower formation”
t0“Apple”
Claim · model-written summary
NAA application had no effect on apple flower formation.
- Taxon
- AppleMalus domesticat0
- Treatment
- NAA applicationse0
- Outcome
- flower formatione1
- Direction
- without effecte0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“NAA applications were without effect”
e1“flower formation, but NAA applications were without effect”
t0“Apple”
Claim · model-written summary
Defoliation significantly reduced MdFT1, 2 transcript levels relative to controls early in the growing season.
- Taxon
- AppleMalus domesticat0
- Treatment
- Defoliation treatmentse0
- Gene
- MdFT1, 2e0
- Outcome
- transcript levelse0
- Direction
- reductione0
- Qualifier
- early in the growing seasone0
- Comparator
- controlse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Defoliation treatments were accompanied by a significant reduction in MdFT1, 2 transcript levels compared with controls early in the growing season”
t0“Apple”
Claim · model-written summary
GA 4+7 significantly increased MdTFL1-1 transcripts relative to controls throughout the growing season.
- Taxon
- AppleMalus domesticat0
- Treatment
- GA 4+7 applicatione0
- Gene
- MdTFL1-1e0
- Outcome
- transcriptse0
- Direction
- increasee0
- Qualifier
- throughout the growing seasone0
- Comparator
- controlse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“GA 4+7 application was accompanied by a significant increase in MdTFL1-1 transcripts compared with controls throughout the growing season”
t0“Apple”
Claim · model-written summary
The authors infer that GA 4+7 inhibits flower formation through upregulation of MdTFL1-1.
- Taxon
- AppleMalus domesticat0
- Treatment
- GA 4+7e0
- Gene
- MdTFL1-1e0
- Outcome
- flower formatione0
- Direction
- inhibitse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“GA 4+7 inhibits flower formation by upregulating the inhibitory MdTFL1-1”
t0“Apple”
Claim · model-written summary
The authors infer that defoliation inhibits flowering through early downregulation of MdFT1, 2 transcripts.
- Taxon
- AppleMalus domesticat0
- Treatment
- defoliatione0
- Gene
- MdFT1, 2e0
- Outcome
- transcript levelse0
- Direction
- downregulatinge0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“defoliation acts by downregulating transcript levels of MdFT1, 2 early in the growing season”
t0“Apple”
Claim · model-written summary
The authors suggest defoliated bourse buds may receive flowering promotion signals from elsewhere in the tree.
- Taxon
- AppleMalus domesticat0
- Organ / stage
- bourse budse0
- Outcome
- flowering promotion signalse0
- Qualifier
- from other parts of the tree in the absence of their local leavese0
Not reportedDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“defoliated bourse buds may receive flowering promotion signals from other parts of the tree in the absence of their local leaves”
t0“Apple”
The same questions in other papers
Gibberellic acid · molecular: expression · Malus domestica (apple)Positive and negative results
2 in the opposite direction
- positive
- positive
pruning · molecular: expression · Malus domestica (apple)Positive and negative results
2 papers in the same direction as this paper · 1 in the opposite direction
- positive
- no effect
- negative
Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.