Seasonality control of barley flowering: from the lab to the field

开花时间是大麦的一个关键发育过渡期，因为植物停止制造叶子并分配资源进行繁殖。生物钟是决定大麦何时开花的关键因素。时钟基因Ppd-H1与春天的行为有关，我们已经确定了另一个时钟基因EAM 8，进一步“迁移”大麦。在干旱的条件下，如伊比利亚半岛，这是有利的大麦播种前冬季利用温和的冬季条件，导致更高的产量和增加健身。冬大麦是祖先的遗传状态，在越冬前的秋天发芽，使春化过程能够触发开花潜力的接受性。开花然后在春天随着光周期的推进而发生。学术和育种前的兴趣是在有春化要求的遗传背景下评估大麦开花，但振荡器已被调整到适当的时间开花到给定的农业气候带。为此，约克和先正达的合作伙伴在冬大麦中构建了生物钟突变。这些将在英国和欧洲大陆周围的受控气候室、温室环境和多个田间地点进行评估，以确定抽穗日期和开花时间。基因表达谱和生殖干细胞（花分生组织）的变化将被成像。结合植物形态的生物统计学，包括分蘖和许多种子产量性状，将在这些品系中评估和量化谷物特性，以将受控和田间环境中的开花时间与商业相关产品联系起来。冬大麦开花时间网络的分子遗传学尚不清楚，我们为这项工作产生的时钟等位基因是评估这种分子遗传网络的高级遗传状态。

Flowering time is a critical developmental transition in barley, as the plant stops making leaves and allocates resources to reproduction. The circadian clock is a key determinant for when in a season barley flowers. The clock gene Ppd-H1 is associated with the spring behaviour and we have identified another clock gene termed EAM8 that further "migrates" barley. In arid conditions such as the Iberian peninsula, it is advantageous for barley to be sown before winter to leverage mild winter conditions, resulting in higher yield and increased fitness. Winter barley is the ancestral genetic state, and germinates in autumn before overwintering, enabling the process of vernalisation to trigger receptiveness for the potential to flower. Flowering then occurs with the advancing photoperiods in the spring.There is an academic and pre-breeding interest to appraise barley flowering in a genetic context where there are vernalisation requirements, but where the oscillator has been tuned to appropriately time flowering to a given agro-climatic zone. For this the York and Syngenta partners have constructed clock mutations in winter barley. These would be assessed under controlled climate chambers, greenhouse settings and multiple field sites in the UK and around continental Europe for heading date and flowering time. Gene-expression profiles and changes in the reproductive stem-cells (the floral meristem) would be imaged. Coupled to biometry of plant form, including tillering and numerous seed-yield traits, grain characteristics would be assessed and quantified in these lines to additionally relate flowering time in controlled and field setting to products of commercial relevance.It is of profound academic interest to understand how a plant responds to its growing season. The molecular genetics of the flowering-time network in winter barley is not known, and the clock alleles we generated for this work are advanced genetic states to evaluate this molecular-genetic network.