Abstract
Prunus mume is one of the most important woody perennials for edible and ornamental use. Despite a substantial variation in the flowering phenology among the P. mume germplasm resources, the genetic control for flowering time remains to be elucidated. In this study, we examined five blooming time-related traits of 235 P. mume landraces for 2 years. Based on the phenotypic data, we performed genome-wide association studies, which included a combination of marker- and gene-based association tests, and identified 1,445 candidate genes that are consistently linked with flowering time across multiple years. Furthermore, we assessed the global transcriptome change of floral buds from the two P. mume cultivars exhibiting contrasting bloom dates and detected 617 associated genes that were differentially expressed during the flowering process. By integrating a co-expression network analysis, we screened out 191 gene candidates of conserved transcriptional pattern during blooming across cultivars. Finally, we validated the temporal expression profiles of these candidates and highlighted their putative roles in regulating floral bud break and blooming time in P. mume. Our findings are important to expand the understanding of flowering time control in woody perennials and will boost the molecular breeding of novel varieties in P. mume.
Highlights
Flowering time is one of the most important adaptive traits, which is critical to the fitness and survival of many plant species (Gaudinier and Blackman, 2019)
All investigated individuals displayed a strong consistency in flowering time-related traits across 2 different years (Figure 1B; Supplementary Table 2)
A strong pair-wise correlation was observed among the five flowering time-related sub-traits within each year (2017: correlation coefficients between 0.82 and 0.98; 2019: correlation coefficients between 0.82 and 0.99) (Figure 1B; Supplementary Table 2)
Summary
Flowering time is one of the most important adaptive traits, which is critical to the fitness and survival of many plant species (Gaudinier and Blackman, 2019). Perennial species undergo repeated cycles of vegetative and reproductive growth (Singh et al, 2017). Within the context of climate change, many phenological events in deciduous trees, including timing of bud set, timing of bud burst, and blooming time were disrupted by warm winters and unpredicted extreme weathers (Aitken et al, 2008; Luedeling, 2012; Fadón et al, 2020a). It is essential to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the mechanism for the control of timing of bud break and blooming in perennial trees and to breed new varieties adapted to future climate scenarios (Aitken et al, 2008; Luedeling, 2012; Fadón et al, 2020a)
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