Cytokinin, auxin, and abscisic acid dynamics during flower development in white and red currants infected with Blackcurrant reversion virus

Abstract

Blackcurrant reversion virus (BRV) infection, characteristic by flower malformation, resulted at the early flower stage in elevated levels of bioactive cytokinins and their biosynthetic precursors in flowers of white currant ‘Blanka’ and red currant ‘Vitan’. In healthy flowers, flower-to-berry transition was accompanied by an increase in bioactive cytokinins that was not observed in infected flowers, which were incapable of further development. Auxin levels increased during flower development, in ‘Vitan’ only in flowers with normal morphology (both healthy and infected). BRV infection did not have a significant effect on cytokinin or auxin levels in the leaves of either cultivar, it coincided with a mild elevation in the content of abscisic acid in the flowers of both cultivars.