Fig. 2

The pSUC2::FDi transgene delays the floral transition under long day photoperiods. (A) Plants containing the pSUC2::FDi transgene flower significantly later (B) and produce more rosette leaves (C) than the Col-0 Wt control. The pSUC2::FDi floral delay was not as strong as that observed by expressing the same FDi cassette under the FD promoter nor the fd-5 loss of function mutant. (D) qPCR of apically enriched tissues indicated that the pSUC2::FDi transgene reduced FD expression to ~ 50% that of Col-0 Wt levels. For each background, qPCR was performed at least in triplicate. (E) pSUC2::FDi has no additive effect on flowering when in a fd-5 background under long day photoperiods. Both fd-5 and fd-5 with pSUC2::FDi had equivalent flowering times (ns; p = 0.85; t-test). Three independent pSUC2::FDi lines are shown for all flowering measurements. One representative line was chosen for qPCR and crosses with fd-5. Each dot represents one individual for each respective genotype. Plants were photographed 32 days after sowing. Error bars represent standard error (D) and standard deviation (E). Letters denote statistically similar (p > 0.05) groups, as determined by ANOVA with post hoc Tukey’s HSD test. To normalize expression to the amount of meristem derived cDNA in the total cDNA pool, FD expression was normalized to KNAT1 expression