Study of rose RoFT transgenic plants

In the ornamental sector, the rose represents a study model due to its great variability, particularly in terms of flowering.
Indeed, there are seasonal flowering roses (non-recurrent roses), and continuous-flowering roses that have lost flowering repressor RoKSN, a member of the TFL1 family.
The floral transition involves competition between RoKSN and the activator of flowering, FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT). FT and TFL1 belong to the phosphatidylethanolamine-binding proteins (PEBPs) family and the members of this family were studied in the rose genome.
To understand the transition between vegetative to floral stages, three rose cultivars were genetically transformed by an overexpression of RoFT and were genetically and phenotycally characterised.
These three transformed cultivars show different phenotic differences in terms of floral organs, architecture and flowering date.
Thus, one genotype had more petals, another fewer, and no difference was observed in the third one.
A study of the genes regulated by RoFT (RoSOC, RoLFY, RoAP1) as well as the genes implied in the floral organs identity (RoAP2, RoAG, RoFUL, RoAP3) was carried out.
In addition, as RoFT is a mobile protein, grafting studies were carried out by grafting a non-recurrent rose onto roses overexpressing RoFT. This study allows us to understand the regulation of flowering in perennial species such as the rose in different genetic backgrounds.

XXXI International Horticultural Congress (IHC2022): International Symposium on Breeding and Effective Use of Biotechnology and Molecular Tools in Horticultural Crops

L. Hamama, J. Bosselut, L. Voisine, J. Chameau, S. Foucrier, S. Pierre, J. Jeauffre, L. Ogé, T. Thouroude, F. Foucher, L. Hibrand-Saint Oyant

rose, flowering, FT gene, flower initiation, flower development

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2023.1362.5