Production of compact plants by overexpression of AtSHI in the ornamental Kalanchoë

Abstract

Growth retardation is an important breeding aim and an essential part of horticultural plant production. Here, the potential of transferring the Arabidopsis short internode (shi) mutant phenotype was explored by expressing the AtSHI gene in the popular ornamental plant Kalanchoë. A 35S-AtSHI construct was produced and transferred into eight genetically different cultivars of Kalanchoë by Agrobacterium tumefaciens. The resulting transgenic plants showed dwarfing phenotypes like reduced plant height and diameter, and also more compact inflorescences, as a result of increased vegetative height. The shi phenotype was stable over more than five vegetative subcultivations. Compared with Arabidopsis, the ectopic expression of AtSHI in Kalanchoë showed several differences. None of the Kalanchoë SHI-lines exhibited alterations in leaf colour or morphology, and most lines were not delayed in flowering. Moreover, continuous treatment of lines delayed in flowering with low concentrations of gibberellins completely restored the time of flowering. These features are very important as a delay in flowering would increase plant production costs significantly. The effect of expression controlled by the native Arabidopsis SHI promoter was also investigated in transgenic Kalanchoë and resulted in plants with a longer flowering period. Two AtSHI like genes were identified in Kalanchoë indicating a widespread presence of this transcription factor. These findings are important because they suggest that transformation with the AtSHI gene could be applied to several species as a tool for growth retardation, and that this approach could substitute the use of conventional chemical growth regulation in plant production.