AUTHOR=Tomes Sumathi , Gunaseelan Kularajathevan , Dragulescu Monica , Wang Yen-Yi , Guo Lindy , Schaffer Robert J. , Varkonyi-Gasic Erika 

TITLE=A MADS-box gene-induced early flowering pear (Pyrus communis L.) for accelerated pear breeding

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Plant Science

VOLUME=14

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/plant-science/articles/10.3389/fpls.2023.1235963

DOI=10.3389/fpls.2023.1235963

ISSN=1664-462X

ABSTRACT=<p>There have been a considerable number of studies that have successfully sped up the flowering cycle in woody perennial horticultural species. One particularly successful study in apple (<italic>Malus domestica</italic>) accelerated flowering using a silver birch (<italic>Betula pendula</italic>) <italic>APETALA1/FRUITFULL</italic> MADS-box gene <italic>BpMADS4, w</italic>hich yielded a good balance of vegetative growth to support subsequent flower and fruit development. In this study, <italic>BpMADS4</italic> was constitutively expressed in European pear (<italic>Pyrus communis</italic>) to establish whether this could be used as a tool in a rapid pear breeding program. Transformed pear lines flowered within 6–18 months after grafting onto a quince (<italic>Cydonia oblonga</italic>) rootstock. Unlike the spindly habit of early flowering apples, the early flowering pear lines displayed a normal tree-like habit. Like apple, the flower appearance was normal, and the flowers were fertile, producing fruit and seed upon pollination. Seed from these transformed lines were germinated and 50% of the progeny flowered within 3 months of sowing, demonstrating a use for these in a fast breeding program.</p>