What genes help the longevity of plant age?

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Some cut flowers and pot plants last longer than others, ie, they slow the aging process, known as senescence. Scientists at the Agricultural Research Service U.S. (ARS) scientists are studying how to help prolong the beauty of flowers, analyzing the genetic mechanisms that control aging in plants.

One option is called virus induced gene silencing (VIGS by its acronym in English), which allows researchers to determine the role of genes in old plants. In the laboratory, the scientists used a virus snuff rattlesnake, which was modified by inserting genes from plants of interest. In the experiments, some plants in bloom received no exposure to the virus, others are exposed to the virus to other conventional and modified.

Exposure stimulates the natural defense mechanisms of the plant, including attempts to silence the virus. When this occurs, the introduced genes in the modified virus was also muted. Comparing all plants, it is possible that researchers can determine the functions of genes silenced again.

In previous experiments, the researchers used as a model plant Petunia. It was found that the virus by inserting a piece of a gene that gives color, the flower obtained (which would normally be purple) have white spots. The system of plant defense silenced the normal function of the gene, s say, the creation of color.

A second gene fragment inserted into the virus also was silenced in plants with flowers with white spots. That gene was silenced the function of producing ethylene, which is a composite of aging. It was found that plants with white spots exposed to modified virus produced less ethylene than unexposed plants or plants exposed to the unmodified virus.

Although VIGS has been used in other studies related to the functions of genes in tomato and snuff, the experiments of these researchers were the first to cut flowers and potted plants produced commercially.