Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) is a grain crop grown in the Andes renowned as a highly nutritious plant exhibiting tolerance to abiotic stress such as drought, cold and high salinity. Quinoa grows across a range of latitudes corresponding to differing day lengths, suggesting regional adaptations of flowering regulation. Improved understanding and subsequent modification of the flowering process, including flowering time, ensuring high yields, is one of the key factors behind expansion of cultivation zones and goals of the crop improvement programs worldwide. However, our understanding of the molecular basis of flower initiation and development in quinoa is limited. Here, we use a computational approach to perform genome-wide identification and analysis of 611 orthologues of the Arabidopsis thaliana flowering genes. Conservation of the genes belonging to the photoperiod, gibberellin and autonomous pathways was observed, while orthologues of the key genes found in the vernalisation pathway (FRI, FLC) were absent from the quinoa genome. Our analysis indicated that on average each Arabidopsis flowering gene has two orthologous copies in quinoa. Several genes including orthologues of MIF1, FT and TSF were identified as homologue-rich genes in quinoa. We also identified 459 quinoa-specific genes uniquely expressed in the flower and/or meristem, with no known orthologues in other species. The genes identified provide a resource and framework for further studies of flowering in quinoa and related species. It will serve as valuable resource for plant biologists, crop physiologists and breeders to facilitate further research and establishment of modern breeding programs for quinoa.

中文翻译：

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对藜麦基因组的分析揭示了开花途径的保守性和发散性。

藜麦（藜麦藜藜）是在安第斯山脉生长的一种谷物，被称为高营养植物，对干旱，寒冷和高盐度等非生物胁迫具有耐受性。藜麦生长在与不同的日长相对应的一系列纬度上，表明开花调节的区域适应性。对开花过程（包括开花时间）的理解和随后的改进（确保开花），是扩大种植区和实现全球作物改良计划目标的关键因素之一。但是，我们对藜麦花启动和发育的分子基础的理解是有限的。在这里，我们使用一种计算方法对611个直向同源基因进行全基因组鉴定和分析。拟南芥开花基因。藜麦基因组中未发现属于光周期，赤霉素和自主途径的基因的保守性，而在春化途径中发现的关键基因（FRI，FLC）的直系同源物却不存在。我们的分析表明，平均每个拟南芥开花基因在藜麦中有两个直系同源拷贝。包括MIF1，FT和TSF直向同源物在内的几个基因被鉴定为藜麦中富含同源物的基因。我们还确定了在花和/或分生组织中唯一表达的459种藜麦特有基因，在其他物种中没有直系同源物。鉴定出的基因为进一步研究藜麦和相关物种的开花提供了资源和框架。它将为植物生物学家，作物生理学家和育种者提供宝贵资源，以促进对藜麦的进一步研究和建立现代育种计划。