Suppression of Arabidopsis flowering by near-null magnetic field is affected by light.

Abstract

We previously reported that a near-null magnetic field suppressed Arabidopsis flowering in white light, which might be related to the function modification of cryptochrome (CRY). To further demonstrate that the effect of near-null magnetic field on Arabidopsis flowering is associated with CRY, Arabidopsis wild type and CRY mutant plants were grown in the near-null magnetic field under blue or red light with different light cycle and photosynthetic photon flux density. We found that Arabidopsis flowering was significantly suppressed by near-null magnetic field in blue light with lower intensity (10 µmol/m(2) /s) and shorter cycle (12 h period: 6 h light/6 h dark). However, flowering time of CRY1/CRY2 mutants did not show any difference between plants grown in near-null magnetic field and in local geomagnetic field under detected light conditions. In red light, no significant difference was shown in Arabidopsis flowering between plants in near-null magnetic field and local geomagnetic field under detected light cycles and intensities. These results suggest that changes of blue light cycle and intensity alter the effect of near-null magnetic field on Arabidopsis flowering, which is mediated by CRY.