Spatio-temporal localization of LlBOP following early events of floral abscission in yellow lupine

Abstract

The phenomenon of excessive flower abscission in yellow lupine is a process of substantial interest to the agricultural industries, because it substantially affects the yield. The aim of this work was to provide an analysis of the changes taking place precisely in the abscission zone (AZ) during early stages of flower separation. We put particular emphasis on mRNA accumulation of BOP (BLADE ON PETIOLE) gene encoding a transcriptional factor so far considered to be essential for AZ formation. Our results show that the AZ displays a particular transcriptional network active in the specific stages of its function, as reflected by the expression profile of LlBOP. Noteworthy, spatio-temporal LlBOP transcript accumulation in the elements of pedicel vascular tissue reveals divergent regulatory mechanism of its activity. We have also found that AZ cells accumulate reactive oxidative species following abscission and what is more, become active due to the increasing amount of uridine-rich small nuclear RNA, accompanied by poly(A) mRNA intensive synthesis. Our paper is a novel report for BOP involvement in the AZ functioning in relation to the whole transcriptional activity of AZ and overall discussed regarding BOP role as a potential mobile key regulator of abscission.