Differential gene expression during floral transition in pineapple.
Pineapple (Ananas comosus var. comosus) and ornamental bromeliads are commercially induced to flower by treatment with ethylene or its analogs. The apex is transformed from a vegetative to a floral meristem and shows morphological changes in 8 to 10 days, with flowers developing 8 to 10 weeks later. During eight sampling stages ranging from 6 hours to 8 days after treatment, 7,961 genes were found to exhibit differential expression (DEG) after the application of ethylene. In the first 3 days after treatment, there was little change in ethylene synthesis or in the early stages of the ethylene response. Subsequently, three ethylene response transcription factors (ERTF) were up-regulated and the potential gene targets were predicted to be the positive flowering regulator CONSTANS (CO), a WUSCHEL gene, two APETALA1/FRUTFULL (AP1/FUL) genes, an epidermal patterning gene and a jasmonic acid synthesis gene. We confirm that pineapple has lost the flowering repressor FLOWERING LOCUS C. At the initial stages, the SUPPRESSOR OF OVEREXPRESSION OF CONSTANS 1 (SOC1) was not significantly involved in this transition. Another WUSCHEL gene and a PHD homeobox transcription factor, though not apparent direct targets of ERTF, were up-regulated within a day of treatment, their predicted targets being the up-regulated CO, auxin response factors, SQUAMOSA, and histone H3 genes with suppression of abscisic acid response genes. The FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT), TERMINAL FLOWER (TFL), AGAMOUS-like APETELAR (AP2) and SEPETALA (SEP) increased rapidly within 2 to 3 days after ethylene treatment. Two FT genes were up-regulated in the apex and not the leaf bases after treatment, suggesting that transport did not occur. These results indicated that the ethylene response in pineapple and possibly most bromeliads acts directly to promote the vegetative to flower transition via APETALA1/FRUITFULL (AP1/FUL) and its interaction with SPL, FT, TFL, SEP and AP2. Overall design: In this study, differential gene expression in Ananas comosus (cultivar 'MD2', PRI 73-50) was analyzed after ethylene treatment. Two different tissues ("D" leaf and stem apex) were collected at different times after ethylene treatment (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 8 days after treatment) from treated and untreated "control" plants. Three replicates were sequenced.