Expression analysis of flowering gene in diploid wild strawberry species

Many studies support the idea that the genome of the octoploid garden strawberry consists of subgenomes originating from several wild diploid Fragaria species including F. iinumae and F. vesca. Studies on both diploid wild species may contribute to a better understanding of behavior, such as flowering, of garden strawberries.
However, unlike F. vesca which is used as a model species of the genus, less is known about how F. iinumae responds to environmental conditions, as well as the molecular mechanisms behind it.
Therefore, in this study, we isolated flowering genes from F. iinumae, and their expression patterns were analyzed.
Three FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT)-like genes were found by a BLAST search using FvFT1 as a query, and one of them shared the exon/intron pattern with other FT-like genes of other species, while others had different patterns.
Thus, the gene, named FiFT1, was further analyzed.
Phylogenetic analysis of FiFT1 with FT-like proteins from other Fragaria species revealed that FiFT1 belongs to the same clade with FaFT2/3, rather than Fa/FvFT1. The diurnal expression pattern of FiFT1 with a peak in the middle of the day under LD differed from that of FvFT1, and the expression was more dominant in leaves than in shoot tips conditions while the expression of FaFT3 was known to be expressed mainly in shoot tips under LD. These results infer the possibility that FaFT3 originated from FiFT1 but the spatiotemporal expression pattern has been changed through revolution.

IV Asian Horticultural Congress – AHC2023

T. Kurokura, M. Shibuya

flowering, Fragaria, molecular physiology, Rosaceae

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2024.1404.45