Cookies on this website

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you click 'Accept all cookies' we'll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies and you won't see this message again. If you click 'Reject all non-essential cookies' only necessary cookies providing core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility will be enabled. Click 'Find out more' for information on how to change your cookie settings.

Variations in magnetic field (MF) intensity are known to induce plant morphological and gene expression changes. In Arabidopsis thaliana Col-0, near-null magnetic field (NNMF, i.e., <100 nT MF) causes a delay in the transition to flowering, but the expression of genes involved in this response has been poorly studied. Here, we showed a time-course quantitative analysis of the expression of both leaf (including clock genes, photoperiod pathway, GA20ox, SVP, and vernalization pathway) and floral meristem (including GA2ox, SOC1, AGL24, LFY, AP1, FD, and FLC) genes involved in the transition to flowering in A. thaliana under NNMF. NNMF induced a delayed flowering time and a significant reduction of leaf area index and flowering stem length, with respect to controls under geomagnetic field. Generation experiments (F1 - and F2 -NNMF) showed retention of flowering delay. The quantitative expression (qPCR) of some A. thaliana genes expressed in leaves and floral meristem was studied during transition to flowering. In leaves and flowering meristem, NNMF caused an early downregulation of clock, photoperiod, gibberellin, and vernalization pathways and a later downregulation of TSF, AP1, and FLC. In the floral meristem, the downregulation of AP1, AGL24, FT, and FLC in early phases of floral development was accompanied by a downregulation of the gibberellin pathway. The progressive upregulation of AGL24 and AP1 was also correlated to the delayed flowering by NNMF. The flowering delay is associated with the strong downregulation of FT, FLC, and GA20ox in the floral meristem and FT, TSF, FLC, and GA20ox in leaves. Bioelectromagnetics. 39:361-374, 2018. © 2018 The Authors. Bioelectromagnetics Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Original publication

DOI

10.1002/bem.22123

Type

Journal article

Journal

Bioelectromagnetics

Publication Date

07/2018

Volume

39

Pages

361 - 374

Keywords

Arabidopsis thaliana, delay in flowering time, geomagnetic field, leaves and floral meristem gene expression, near-null magnetic field, Arabidopsis, Arabidopsis Proteins, Cluster Analysis, Down-Regulation, Flowers, Gene Expression Regulation, Plant, Magnetic Fields, Meristem, Plant Leaves, Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction, Time Factors