Late-bolting transgenic Chinese cabbage obtained by RNA interference technique

LEAFY (LFY) gene plays an important role in determining plant flowering mainly by controlling the timing of phase transition. Constitutive under-expression of LFY in Arabidopsis resulted in the formation of a late-flowering and highly branching phenotype. In this paper, an RNAi approach was used in down-regulated LFY gene expression to delay Chinese cabbage (Brassica rapa L. ssp. pekinensis) bolting and flowering. The results show that transgenic plant has a later transition to the reproductive phase, and the transgenic plants have more branches, more leaves, but a lower height. Results of RQ-RT-PCR analysis show that LFY gene expression was greatly reduced in transgenic plants. These results suggest that inhibiting LFY gene expression by RNA interference can delay bolting in a cold-sensitive long-day (LD) condition. Late flowering of Chinese cabbage can be used as a good genetic resource for the breeding late-bolting Chinese cabbage.