Open Access

ARTICLE

Character Identification of an Early Flowering Mutant

Zhenzhong Jiang¹, Peng Jiao¹, Zhuo Qi¹, He Zhao², Jing Qu², Siyan Liu¹, Dan Yao¹, Piwu Wang², Shuyan Guan^1,*, Yiyong Ma^2,*

1 College of Life Sciences, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun, 130118, China
2 College of Agronomy, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun, 130118, China

* Corresponding Authors: Shuyan Guan. Email: ; Yiyong Ma. Email:

(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Plant Physiology for Crop Production and Sustainable Agriculture)

Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany 2021, 90(2), 449-459. https://doi.org/10.32604/phyton.2021.013247

Received 30 July 2020; Accepted 19 November 2020; Issue published 07 February 2021

Abstract

The concept of gene-function-genetic trait was introduced to explore the effects of early flowering on the growth and development of maize at the jointing stage and to obtain early flowering mutants using ethyl methanesulfonate mutagenesis. First, we studied gene expression, phytohormones, and lignin content to explore the physiological peculiarities of the early flowering mutant. Then we analyzed the genetic features of the mutants during the jointing stage by measuring physiological and biochemical indices of drought tolerance. The results showed that the photosynthetic rate of the mutant was significantly higher than that of the control and the rate of accumulation of dry matter was rapid. In addition, the lignin content increased while drought resistance diminished. Therefore, we concluded that early flowering leads to faster overall growth and development.

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