Poster: Reproductive development
Abs #
340: Potassium chorate induced flowering in Dimocarpus longan
Dimocarpus longan, commonly known as longan or dragon eye, is a member of the Sapindaceae family along with other better known relatives including lychee, rambutan and Spanish lime. Commonly eaten fresh, the longan fruit is smooth, round and yellowish brown at harvest with a translucent and crispy edible aril surrounding a round, brown-black seed. Floral initiation in longan is often erratic and highly dependent on climatic conditions and fruit yield varies from season to season. The discovery of potassium chlorate induced flowering by Dr. Chung-Ruey Yen of the National Pingtung University of Science and Technology in Taiwan has solved the problem of alternate bearing and enabled the grower to produce off-season longan. Dr. Yen was able to associate the use of fireworks during religious ceremonies with off-season production of longan flowers on trees near the temples in Taiwan and discovered potassium chlorate induces flowering in longan trees. Similar to the effects of chlorate on Arabidopsis plants, nitrate reductase activity is reduced in potassium chlorate longan trees induced to flower relative to untreated trees that did not flower. To identify potential gene products involved in potassium chlorate induced flowering a subtractive suppression cDNA library is being constructed with potassium chlorate treated and non-treated longan plants. Preliminary data on the isolated clones will be discussed.
