Abstract
Plants use seasonal cues to initiate flowering at an appropriate time of
year to ensure optimal reproductive success. The circadian clock
integrates these daily and seasonal cues with internal cues to initiate
flowering. The molecular pathways that control the sensitivity of
flowering to photoperiod (daylength) are well described in the model
plant Arabidopsis. However, much less is known in crop species, such as
the legume family species. Here we performed a flowering time screen of
a TILLING population of Medicago truncatula and found a line with
late-flowering and altered light-sensing phenotypes. Using
RNA-sequencing, we identified a nonsense mutation in the
Phytochromobilin Synthase (MtPΦBS) gene, which encodes an enzyme
that carries out the final step in the biosynthesis of the chromophore
required for phytochrome (PHY) activity. The analysis of the
circadian clock in the MtpΦbs mutant revealed a shorter circadian
period, which was shared with the phyA mutant. The MtpΦbs
and MtphyA mutants showed downregulation of FT floral
regulators MtFTa1, MtFTb1/b2 and a shift in phase for morning and
night core clock genes. Our findings show that PHYA is necessary to
synchronize the circadian clock and integration of light signaling to
promote expression of the MtFT genes to precisely time flowering.