Molecular mechanism of petal movement

花瓣闭合是盆栽龙胆的难题之一。本研究试图揭示花瓣运动的机制。当孵化条件从25度改变到15度时，盆栽龙胆的花瓣迅速闭合。另一方面，当温度从15度改变到25度时，花瓣在2小时内缓慢开放。我们从龙胆花瓣的cDNA文库中克隆了15个编码水蛋白的水通道蛋白基因。在龙胆属植物的花器官中，发现了一些属于PIP2亚家族的水通道蛋白基因的表达。然而，开放花瓣和闭合花瓣之间的PIP2转录本和蛋白质积累没有显著差异。

The closure of petals is one of the problems in the potted gentian. This study was attempted to reveal the mechanism of petal movement. When the incubation condition was changed from 25 to 15 degrees, the petals of potted gentian closed rapidly. On the other hand, when it was changed from 15 to 25 degrees, the petals opened slowly throughout 2 hours.We identified 15 aquaporin genes, encoding water pomp protein, from gentian petal cDNA library. The expressions of some aquaporin genes categorized into PIP2 subfamily were detected strongly in floral organs of gentian plants. However, the significant difference of PIP2 transcript and protein accumulations between opening and closure petals could not be observed.