Advances of the Flowering Genes of Gymnosperms

Abstract

Flowering is an important stage in the life cycle of plants and also a turning point from vegetative growth to reproductive growth. This process is affected by many exogenous and endogenous factors. Some examples of the latter are endogenous hormones, plant growth status, nutrient composition, and flowering regulatory genes. Many gymnosperms have a long juvenile period. Previous studies attempted to shorten this period using traditional asexual propagation methods, but significant results have not been achieved. In recent years, molecular biology is used to study the flowering regulatory gene to obtain transgenic plants with early flowering trait. Thus, the production of gymnosperms is hastened, and economic efficiency is improved. Studies have shown that the flowering genes of plants act synergistically to form a complex network. In this paper, we reviewed the recent development in the study of the regulation of the flowering genes of gymnosperms, that is, from the floral meristem-specific gene, floral organ-specific gene, genes that inhibit plant flowering, and microRNA regulation of flowering. We provide a reference for the in-depth study on the genetic improvement of the flowering gene.