Gibberellin Promotes Bolting and Flowering via the Floral Integrators RsFT and RsSOC1-1 under Marginal Vernalization in Radish

Abstract

Gibberellic acid (GA) is one of the factors that promotes flowering in radish (Raphanus Sativus L.), although the mechanism mediating GA activation of flowering has not been determined. To identify this mechanism in radish, we compared the effects of GA treatment on late-flowering (NH-JS1) and early-flowering (NH-JS2) radish lines. GA treatment promoted flowering in both lines, but not without vernalization. NH-JS2 plants displayed greater bolting and flowering pathway responses to GA treatment than NH-JS1. This variation was not due to differences in GA sensitivity in the two lines. We performed RNA-seq analysis to investigate GA-mediated changes in gene expression profiles in the two radish lines. We identified 313 upregulated, differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and 207 downregulated DEGs in NH-JS2 relative to NH-JS1 in response to GA. Of these, 21 and 8 genes were identified as flowering time and GA-responsive genes, respectively. The results of RNA-seq and quantitative PCR (qPCR) analyses indicated that RsFT and RsSOC1-1 expression levels increased after GA treatment in NH-JS2 plants but not in NH-JS1. These results identified the molecular mechanism underlying differences in the flowering-time genes of NH-JS1 and NH-JS2 after GA treatment under insufficient vernalization conditions.