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Mechanism of Flower Growth in Ornamental Plants: From Floral Induction to Development

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A special issue of Agronomy (ISSN 2073-4395). This special issue belongs to the section "Horticultural and Floricultural Crops".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 October 2025 | Viewed by 10074

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Dr. Yanhong He

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National Key Laboratory for Germplasm Innovation & Utilization of Horticultural Crops, College of Horticulture and Forestry Sciences, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China
Interests: ornamental plant breeding; floral development; flowering regulation; biotic and abiotic stresses
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Dear Colleagues,

Flowers are unique to angiosperms. A typical flower possesses four types of organs, namely sepals, petals, stamens, and carpels, which are arranged on the receptacle from the outside to the centre, respectively. In different groups of flowering plants, however, floral organs show dramatic variation in number, type, size, shape, colour, scent, taste, and arrangement. However, no matter how diverse the floral organs are, they all experience at least four main developmental processes as follows: initiation, identity determination, morphogenesis, and maturation. And many species have evolved in multiple ways to adapt to the environment and endogenous factors to regulate flowering. It is now known that five main signal pathways, namely photoperiod, vernalization, age, autonomy, and gibberellin, regulate floral initiation and development. Furthermore, the quality and quantity of flowers are also affected by environmental factors.

Over recent years, enormous scientific progress has been made to understand the molecular basis of flowering and flower development. However, flowering and flower development still need to be further explored for future flower breeding.

This Special Issue will focus on floral induction to development in ornamental plants. We welcome novel research, reviews, and opinion pieces covering all related topics.

Dr. Yanhong He
Guest Editor

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Keywords

floral organ
flowering time
flower colour
flower shape
flower scent
flower size

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Published Papers (8 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 47146 KB

Open AccessArticle

Functional Conservation and Redundancy of Duplicated AGAMOUS Homologs in Regulating Floral Organ Development of Tagetes erecta

by Chunling Zhang, Chujun Huang, Ke Zhu, Hang Li, Shiyu Xu, Zhengguo Tao and Yanhong He

Agronomy 2025, 15(10), 2379; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy15102379 - 12 Oct 2025

Viewed by 320

Abstract

Asteraceae, as the largest angiosperm family, has an architecturally complex capitulum (inflorescences) composed of heteromorphic florets with distinct morphologies and functions. AGAMOUS (AG) MADS-box transcription factors act as key regulators in flower development and are essential for the formation of the characteristic capitulum and florets. To explore the potential functions of the AG genes in Asteraceae, we conducted a genome-wide identification and analysis of 52 AG-like genes across 22 species within this family. Additionally, we studied the functions of the Tagetes erecta class C genes TeAG1 and TeAG2 by introducing these genes into T. erecta and Nicotiana tabacum. Gene structure and phylogenomic analyses indicated that AG-like genes may have conserved and specific biological functions in Asteraceae plants. Phenotypic analyses revealed that the T. erecta class C genes TeAG1 and TeAG2 played a conserved and redundant role in regulating stamen and carpel development. The simultaneous downregulation of TeAG1 and TeAG2 led to the homeotic transformation of both stamens and carpels into corolla-like structures. However, silencing TeAG1 or TeAG2 individually in T. erecta did not affect any floral organ development. Furthermore, the ectopic expression of TeAG1 and TeAG2 in N. tabacum resulted in the transformation of sepals into pistils and corollas into stamens, respectively. Additionally, qRT-PCR analyses revealed that TeAG1 and TeAG2 repressed the expression of class A genes. Our findings expand our understanding of the function of class C genes within Asteraceae and provide strategies for breeding double-flower cultivars. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mechanism of Flower Growth in Ornamental Plants: From Floral Induction to Development)

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20 pages, 11901 KB

Open AccessArticle

Expression and Functional Analysis of the ABORTED MICROSPORES (AMS) Gene in Marigold (Tagetes erecta L.)

by Xuejing Ma, Jinhua Tian, Daocheng Tang, Qiuyue Liang and Nan Tang

Agronomy 2025, 15(9), 2058; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy15092058 - 26 Aug 2025

Viewed by 1424

Abstract

Male sterility is an important trait in heterosis utilization and marigold (Tagetes erecta L.) breeding. Currently, most male-sterile lines used in production are derived from natural mutations. ABORTED MICROSPORES (AMS) is an important gene that regulates tapetum and microspore development. Therefore, the effect of AMS on fertility was studied. TeAMS was located in the nucleus and exhibited self-activation activity. TeAMS was highly expressed in the flower buds of T. erecta. The expression of this gene in fertile plants was higher than that in sterile plants, and the expression level gradually increased with the development of flower buds. The expression level of TeAMS was highest in the flower buds with a diameter of 1.2 cm at the floret differentiation stage, while the expression level was extremely low in the flower buds with a diameter of 1.6 cm. The expression trend of TeAMS in sterile plants was opposite to that in fertile plants. At the inflorescence primordium differentiation stage, flower buds with a diameter of 0.2 cm had the highest expression level, and the stem tip had the lowest expression level. In tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.), overexpression of the TeAMS gene resulted in shortened floral tubes, increased thousand-seed weight, a reduced flowering period, and decreased flower numbers. The pollen viability of transgenic tobacco was significantly lower than that of the wild type, and the pollen grains were smaller and showed irregular shapes. The pollen wall was dry and shrunk. Some pollen germinal furrows were distorted, and a few were almost invisible. Silencing TeAMS resulted in a longer flowering period in tobacco, reduced thousand-seed weight, and high pollen viability. Pollen morphology in silenced lines showed no significant differences compared to the wild-type and empty vector controls. Only a few pollen grains were smaller, shriveled, and shrunken. Therefore, the TeAMS gene plays an important role in regulating the fertility of marigolds. This study provides a theoretical foundation for breeding marigold male-sterile lines. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mechanism of Flower Growth in Ornamental Plants: From Floral Induction to Development)

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19 pages, 4125 KB

Open AccessArticle

Genome-Wide Identification of Petunia Hsp20 Gene Family and Functional Characterization of MYC2a-Regulated CIV Subfamily in Pollen Development

by Xuecong Zhou, Bingru Zhang, Yilin Wang, Letian Wang, Jiajun Tang, Bingyan Zhao, Qian Cheng, Juntao Guo, Hang Zhang and Huirong Hu

Agronomy 2025, 15(9), 2048; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy15092048 - 26 Aug 2025

Viewed by 597

Abstract

Plant heat shock proteins (Hsps) are from a diverse and ancient protein family, with small Hsps of ~20 kDa molecular weight classified as Hsp20s. As a key transcription factor in the jasmonic acid (JA) pathway, myelocytomatosis protein 2 (MYC2) plays a vital role in stamen development. In this study, we identified six genes with significantly altered expression levels using previous RNA-Seq data from PhMYC2a-overexpressing and methyl jasmonate (MeJA)-treated petunia. Interestingly, five of these are Hsp20 family members (PhHsp16.0A, PhHsp16.1, PhHsp16.8, PhHsp21.9, and PhHsp40.8). Yeast one-hybrid (Y1H) and dual-luciferase assays demonstrated that PhMYC2a directly binds their promoters, indicating a collective effect. Thus, a genome-wide analysis was conducted and a total of 38 genes encoding Hsp20s were identified in the reference genome of Petunia axillaris. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that 38 members of Hsp20s were irregularly distributed on 34 chromosome scaffolds and separated into 13 subfamilies, with only PaHsp16.0A and 16.1, among the five selected Hsp20s, being in the same Cytosol IV (CIV) subfamily. Conserved motif analysis suggested that the PaHsp20 gene family members may have a high degree of conservation. The promoter sequence analysis suggested that the promoter regions of PaHsp20 genes contained multiple light- and hormone-related cis-regulatory elements. Subsequently, spatiotemporal expression patterns, analyzed by qRT-PCR, showed that PhHsp16.0A and PhHsp16.1 had relatively high expression levels in flowers, with similar expression patterns at various stages of flower bud and anther development. Furthermore, virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) of PhHsp16.0A and PhHsp16.1 resulted in significantly reduced pollen fertility, indicating their regulation in the process of flower development and echoing the role of PhMYC2a. This study highlights the pivotal role of Hsp20s in MYC2a-mediated regulatory mechanisms during petunia pollen development. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mechanism of Flower Growth in Ornamental Plants: From Floral Induction to Development)

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18 pages, 1870 KB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Flowering and Morphology Responses of Greenhouse Ornamentals to End-of-Day Blue-Dominant Lighting with Different Phytochrome Photostationary States

by Yun Kong, Qingming Li, David Llewellyn and Youbin Zheng

Agronomy 2025, 15(7), 1649; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy15071649 - 7 Jul 2025

Viewed by 832

Abstract

To investigate whether blue-dominant spectra from end-of-day (EOD) lighting can regulate crop morphological and flowering responses, chrysanthemum (Chrysanthemum × morifolium; obligate short day), geranium (Pelargonium × hortorum; day neutral), calibrachoa (Calibrachoa × hybrida; facultative long day), and gerbera (Gerbera jamesonii; facultative short day) plants were grown under different light-emitting diode (LED) spectrum treatments from January to April 2020, in Guelph, Canada. The spectrum treatments were (1) no EOD lighting, (2) narrowband blue from LEDs (B), (3) a combination of narrowband blue, red, and far-red LEDs with a photon flux ratio of 47:3:1 (blue:red:far-red; BRFR). The B and BRFR treatments ran daily from 0.5 h to 4.5 h after dusk. Compared to the control without EOD lighting, chrysanthemum flower initiation was completely inhibited under BRFR. Flowering time was slightly delayed, but flower bud number increased under B. Side branch number, leaf area, and main stem length and diameter increased under B and BRFR. In the geranium B and BRFR did not affect flowering, but increased side branch number and length and diameter of the main stem. Both spectrum treatments promoted earlier flowering in the calibrachoa, but BRFR produced more flower buds. The calibrachoa aerial dry biomass and main stem length increased under B and BRFR. The gerbera leaf chlorophyll index and leaf thickness increased under BRFR. Both spectrum treatments increased the gerbera flower bud size, despite having little effect on flowering time. In all species, at least one of the LED treatments increased canopy size. Therefore, low levels of B or BRFR can be potentially used for EOD lighting to regulate the flowering and morphology of potted ornamentals. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mechanism of Flower Growth in Ornamental Plants: From Floral Induction to Development)

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19 pages, 7002 KB

Open AccessArticle

Physiological and Transcriptomic Analysis of a Sepal Mutant in Phalaenopsis

by Yu Qi, Yenan Wang, Fei Dong, Jiao Zhu and Xiaohui Lv

Agronomy 2025, 15(6), 1361; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy15061361 - 31 May 2025

Viewed by 795

Abstract

MADS-box transcription factors have undergone in-depth investigations regarding their function in regulating the development of plant floral organs. Flower type mutants serve as critical biological models for investigating the regulatory mechanisms of MADS-box genes in floral organ development, while simultaneously constituting essential genetic resources for molecular breeding programs. In this work, we examined a lip-like sepal of the peloric mutant in Phalaenopsis ‘Huayang’, which exhibited changes in both the morphology and color of the sepals. Our cryo-SEM investigations revealed that the mutation type belonged to a sepal labellum-like variation in Phalaenopsis ‘Huayang’. Nine glycosylated anthocyanins were identified and their contents were significantly upregulated in the Se-red of mutant flowers. Transcriptomic analysis identified 9408 differentially expressed genes, including 4934 upregulated and 4474 downregulated genes. In addition, 57 MADS-box genes were identified and classed into five groups (Mα, Mβ, Mγ, MIKC*, and MIKC^C) according to a phylogenetic comparison with Arabidopsis homologs. Furthermore, 29 MADS genes were screened from the MIKC^C group, and these genes may play a crucial role in the regulation of floral organ development. Through real-time PCR analysis and protein interaction analysis, we identified three genes that were upregulated in the mutant, which may be involved in sepal development. The subcellular localization results demonstrated that three genes were found within the nucleus. Taken together, our results elucidated the molecular mechanism of sepal variation in Phalaenopsis ‘Huayang’. Our results could enhance our comprehension of the regulatory mechanisms underlying floral patterning and promote the molecular breeding process of Phalaenopsis. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mechanism of Flower Growth in Ornamental Plants: From Floral Induction to Development)

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19 pages, 4883 KB

Open AccessArticle

Transcriptomic Profiling of Heat-Treated Oriental Lily Reveals LhERF109 as a Positive Regulator of Anthocyanin Accumulation

by Mei Zhou, Lijia Zeng, Fan Li, Chunlian Jin, Jungang Zhu, Xue Yong, Mengxi Wu, Beibei Jiang, Yin Jia, Huijuan Yuan, Jihua Wang and Yuanzhi Pan

Agronomy 2025, 15(5), 1071; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy15051071 - 28 Apr 2025

Viewed by 919

Abstract

Pink-flowered Oriental lily cultivars exhibit significant color fading under high temperatures, but the underlying regulatory mechanisms remain unclear. We subjected ‘Souvenir’ Oriental lily plants to temperature treatments (20 °C and 35 °C) and performed transcriptome sequencing and weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA). The high temperature (35 °C) significantly reduced the anthocyanin content in tepals. The transcriptome analysis identified 8354 differentially expressed genes, with the GO and KEGG analyses revealing a dynamic transition from early stress responses to metabolic adaptation. The WGCNA revealed a module strongly correlated with the anthocyanin content, from which we constructed a gene co-expression network using known anthocyanin-related genes, including the key transcription factor LhMYB12 and structural genes involved in the anthocyanin biosynthetic pathway (LhANS, LhDFR, LhUGT78, and LhF3′H). Through this comprehensive network analysis, we successfully identified and screened LhERF109 as a promising regulatory candidate. The transient overexpression of LhERF109 was found to enhance anthocyanin accumulation and upregulate biosynthetic genes including LhMYB12, while silencing LhERF109 expression produced the opposite effects. These findings identify LhERF109 as a positive regulator of anthocyanin biosynthesis under high temperatures, providing new targets for breeding heat-tolerant lilies with stable flower coloration. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mechanism of Flower Growth in Ornamental Plants: From Floral Induction to Development)

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17 pages, 5303 KB

Open AccessArticle

Morphological Characteristics and Identification of Key Genes Regulating Distyly Morph in Primula vulgaris

by Xuan Wang, Hantao Sun, Yan Xu, Feng Cao, Yanlong Wang, Jianbin Ma, Jinfeng Li, Liu Liu, Ping Li and Xiaoman Zhang

Agronomy 2025, 15(4), 997; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy15040997 - 21 Apr 2025

Viewed by 1208

Abstract

The Primula vulgaris, belonging to the genus Primula, is a typical distyly. The distyly is an important morphological feature in nature. However, there is a shortage of research on the causes of distyly formation and the associated genes that control this trait. In this study, we took P. vulgaris as the experimental material, observed the floral morphological features, made paraffin sections, and performed transcriptome analysis of the styles. The results of morphological observations indicated that the L-morph and S-morph showed dimorphism in flower characteristics, the stigma height was 1.35 cm and the anther height was 0.72 cm for the L-morph and 0.71 cm and 1.50 cm for the S-morph. From the paraffin sections, it can be observed that the papillocytes and stylocytes of the L-morph are longer than those of the S-morph. A total of 2822 DEGs were obtained in the analysis of DEGs, among which 2038 genes were up-regulated and 786 genes were down-regulated. The DEGs of the two morphs were mainly enriched in biological processes such as phenylpropanoid biosynthesis and plant hormone signal transduction. BACOVA_02659 was highly expressed in the L-morph and might hydrolyze and activate growth factors, which were present in the phenylpropane biosynthetic pathway. DEGs such as BoGH3B, SAUR21, and SAUR50 may be involved in the development of long and short styles, which in turn leads to the presentation of differences between long and short morphs. These results provide new insights into the molecular mechanism of Primula. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mechanism of Flower Growth in Ornamental Plants: From Floral Induction to Development)

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20 pages, 7951 KB

Open AccessArticle

Marigold (Tagetes erecta) MADS-Box Genes: A Systematic Analysis and Their Implications for Floral Organ Development

by Cuicui Liu, Feifan Wang, Runhui Li, Yu Zhu, Chunling Zhang and Yanhong He

Agronomy 2024, 14(9), 1889; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy14091889 - 24 Aug 2024

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2452

Abstract

Marigold (Tagetes erecta) has a capitulum with two floret types: sterile ray florets and fertile disc florets. This distinction makes marigold a valuable model for studying floral organ development in Asteraceae, where MADS-box transcription factors play crucial roles. Here, 65 MADS-box genes were identified in the marigold genome, distributed across all 12 chromosomes. These genes were classified into type I (13 genes) and type II (52 genes) according to phylogenetic relationships. The gene structure of type I was simpler than that of type II, with fewer conserved motifs. Type I was further divided into three subclasses, Mα (8 genes), Mβ (2 genes), and Mγ (3 genes), while type II was divided into two groups: MIKC^C (50 genes) and MIKC* (2 genes), with MIKC^C comprising 13 subfamilies. Many type II MADS-box genes had evolutionarily conserved functions in marigold. Expression analysis of type II genes across different organs revealed organ-specific patterns, identifying 34 genes related to flower organ development. Given the distinct characteristics of the two floret types, four genes were specifically expressed only in the petals of one floret type, while twenty genes were expressed in the stamens of disc florets. These genes might have been related to the formation of different floret types. Our research provided a comprehensive and systematic analysis of the marigold MADS-box genes and laid the foundation for further studies on the roles of MADS-box genes in floral organ development in Asteraceae. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mechanism of Flower Growth in Ornamental Plants: From Floral Induction to Development)

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