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The effect of exogenous methyl jasmonate on the flowering time, floral organ morphology, and transcript levels of a group of genes implicated in the development of oilseed rape flowers (Brassica napus L.)

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Abstract

The oilseed rape plant’s transition from the vegetative to the reproductive stage is important to its yield. This transition is controlled by a large group of flowering time genes that respond to environmental and endogenous cues. The role of jasmonates in flowering is almost unknown in Brassicaceae, even in the genus Arabidopsis. In this paper, the clear effect of exogenous methyl jasmonate (MeJA) on the flowering time, floral organ morphology, and transcript levels of a group of genes implicated in floral development is shown. In controlled greenhouse experiments, we found that the effect of MeJA depended on both plant genotype and jasmonate dosage. MeJA promoted maximum flowering when it was applied to the cultivars of early flowering types of oilseed rape, such as cultivars Mei-Jian and Fu-You 4. In addition, a concentration of 100 μM resulted in the most number of early open flowers, in comparison with the results obtained for concentrations of 50 and 80 μM. Furthermore, the application of high concentrations of MeJA (100 μM) also produced various kinds of abnormal flowers. Our results demonstrated that the combined actions of the floral identity genes, specifically BnAP1, BnAP2, BnAP3, BnAG1, and BnPI3, as reflected by their respective relative transcript levels, were responsible for causing the different kinds of flower abnormalities previously undescribed in oilseed rape. We expect our assay to be an enriching addition to the body of work that attempts to understand the signaling function of jasmonates in the floral inductive pathway.

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Abbreviations

AG :

AGAMOUSE

AP :

APETALA

COI :

CORONATINE INSENSITIVE

DAD :

DEFECTIVE IN ANTHER DEHISCENCE

EOIMB:

Early opened immature bud

GA:

Gibberellins

KNAT :

KNOTTED like from Arabidopsis thaliana

MeJA:

Methyl jasmonate

MYB:

Myeloblastosis

OPR :

OPDA REDUCTASE

PI :

PISTILATA

SHA :

SHOOT APICAL MERISTEM ARRESTED

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Acknowledgments

The work of our laboratory was supported by Natural Science Foundation of China (abbreviated as NSFC; the program code: 30671339), National High-Tech R and D Program (abbreviated as 863 program; the program code: 2006AA10A113), and National Basic Research Program of China (abbreviated as 973 projects, program code: 2006CB101602). The authors are thankful to Prof. Ghulam Jilani, PMAS Arid Agriculture University, Pakistan, for giving critic comments; to EnPaper Company for English editing; to Institute of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (985-IAES) for providing the convenience to use equipments.

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  1. Institute of Crop Science, College of Agriculture and Biotechnology, Zhejiang University, 268 Kaixuan Road, 310029, Hangzhou, People’s Republic of China

    Haksong Pak, Yuan Guo, Mingxun Chen, Kunming Chen, Yuanlong Li, Shuijin Hua, Imran Shamsi, Huabing Meng, Congguang Shi & Lixi Jiang

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  1. Haksong Pak
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  2. Yuan Guo
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  3. Mingxun Chen
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  4. Kunming Chen
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  10. Lixi Jiang
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Correspondence to Lixi Jiang.

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H. Pak, Y. Guo contributed equally to this work.

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Pak, H., Guo, Y., Chen, M. et al. The effect of exogenous methyl jasmonate on the flowering time, floral organ morphology, and transcript levels of a group of genes implicated in the development of oilseed rape flowers (Brassica napus L.). Planta 231, 79–91 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-009-1029-9

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