SPP 1530: Flowering Time Control: From Natural Variation to Crop Improvement

在进化过程中，植物的开花和繁殖的季节性时间与当时的环境条件相协调。随着开花的开始，植物经历了从营养生长到生殖发育的转变。在农业中，无论何时收获种子或果实，开花都是作物生产的先决条件。相反，避免开花对于收获植物的营养部分是必要的。由于世代时间长，开花晚也严重阻碍了育种成功。因此，FTi（开花时间）调控对于作物的遗传改良至关重要。未来植物遗传学家和育种家面临许多新的挑战（例如气候变化，需要更高的产量，需要用于生物能源生产的营养生物质），需要新的方法来改变植物物种的物候发育，超越目前可用的遗传变异。单个FTi调节因子表达的变化足以显著改变FTi。发掘FTi调控的分子基础为知识育种提供了新的视角。FTi基因调控超过开花时间的多效性效应，如产量参数/杂交产量最近被证明。这一新兴的研究领域为深入了解作物产量潜力的基础提供了新的可能性。优先方案旨在开发一个功能性的跨物种FTi调节剂网络，用于模拟与环境线索有关的发育和相关（例如产量）特征。将调查具有不同物候发育的植物物种。系统发育相似性可用于推断相关作物物种中FTi调节剂之间的相似功能相互作用。密切和远程相关的物种之间的FTi调节的比较分析，将确定不同的进化路径对优化FTi在一组不同的物种和分歧的分支点。该优先计划中的项目侧重于基因组方法，以全面了解作物中的FTi调控，迄今为止，这还不是研究的主要目标。另一个重点是非遗传因素调节FTi和激素的构成和营养供应。

During evolution plants have coordinated the seasonal timing of flowering and reproduction with the prevailing environmental conditions. With the onset of flowering plants undergo the transition from vegetative growth to reproductive development. In agriculture, flowering is a prerequisite for crop production whenever seeds or fruits are harvested. In contrast, avoidance of flowering is necessary for harvesting vegetative parts of a plant. Late flowering also severely hampers breeding success due to long generation times. Thus, FTi (flowering time) regulation is of utmost importance for genetic improvement of crops. There are many new challenges for plant geneticists and breeders in the future (e.g. changing climate, need for higher yields, demand for vegetative biomass for bioenergy production), requiring novel approaches for altering the phenological development of a plant species beyond the currently available genetic variation. Changes in the expression of a single FTi regulator can suffice to drastically alter FTi. Exploiting the molecular fundament of FTi control offers new perspectives for knowledge-based breeding. Pleiotropic effects of FTi gene regulation beyond flowering time, such as yield parameters/hybrid yield were most recently demonstrated. This emerging field of research offers new possibilities for gaining insight into the very foundations of yield potential in crop plants. The Priority Programme aims to develop a functional cross-species network of FTi regulators for modelling developmental and associated (e.g. yield) characters in relation to environmental cues. Plant species with different phenological development will be investigated. Phylogenetic similarities can be used to infer similar functional interactions between FTi regulators in related crop species. Comparative analysis of FTi regulation among and between closely and remotely related species will identify distinct evolutionary paths towards optimisation of FTi in a diverse set of species and the branching points of divergence. Projects in this Priority Programme focus on genomic approaches to gain a comprehensive understanding of FTi regulation also in crops, which thus far have not been a major target of research. Another focus is on non-genetic cues regulating FTi and hormonal constitution and nutrient supply.