Abstract Detail

Physiology

Uncovering the Trigger of Post-Pollination Petal Senescence in Ipomoea purpurea.

The senescence of petals stands as a major step in the life cycle of flowering plants, and many clades of angiosperms such as Pelargonium hortorum (geranium), Orchidaceae, Petunia, Dianthus caryophyllus (carnation), Solanaceae and Ipomoea undergo petal senescence in response to pollination. Ipomea purpurea has been shown to exhibit this phenomenon in response to pollination.. This study seeks to determine if a gaseous compound produced by pollinated flowers triggers petal senescence in I. purpurea, and further resolve the identity of the compound causing petal senescence in response to pollination. We plan to investigate these questions through pollination experiments performed within enclosed boxes designed to trap any gases produced by pollinated flowers. Gas chromatography will be used to identify candidate compounds. We predict that these gas-chromatography experiments will reveal ethylene as the mediator of the petal senescence response following pollination in I. purpurea. Since multiple angiosperm clades exhibit the phenomenon of pollination-induced petal senescence, future directions include performing similar experiments with flowers of other angiosperms that show this response. These experiments will show whether the same pollination-induced mechanism is responsible for petal senescence across clades.

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Keywords:
ethylene
petal senescence
Ipomoea
plant physiology
plant signalling
plant reproduction.

Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: PHYS2, Physiology II
Location: Virtual/Virtual
Date: Tuesday, July 28th, 2020
Time: 3:45 PM
Number: PHYS2004
Abstract ID:723
Candidate for Awards:Physiological Section Physiological Section Li-COR Prize,Physiological Section Best Paper Presentation