Research Description:

Increasing Flower Longevity in Petunias with the Use of Flower Specific Promoters

This project will focus on producing transgenic petunia lines with increased flower longevity. The plant hormone ethylene regulates plant processes such as flower senescence (fading), fruit ripening, and the pathogen response. We will be focusing on one of the members of the ethylene transduction signal pathway, the Ein 2 (Ethylene Insensitivity) gene. In Arabidopsis, research has shown that loss of function mutations in the ein 2 gene has resulted in plants completely insensitive to ethylene. However, previous research has shown that reducing sensitivity to ethylene using a constitutive promoter (one that affects the entire plant) increases flower longevity, but can have other deleterious effects such as impaired rooting of cuttings. We will use flower specific promoters to drive expression of ethylene signaling genes, thereby limiting ethylene insensitivity to floral tissues.