Flowering is an important process for the reproduction of higher plants. Up to this point, the studies on flowering have mostly focused on the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, and the flowering mechanism of fruit trees remains mostly unknown. The diversity of the flowering time of loquat (Eriobotrya japonica Lindl.) makes it an ideal material to study the regulation of flowering. In this study, we first observed the inflorescence bud differentiation in two varieties of loquat that had different blooming times (cv. Dawuxing (E. japonica), that blooms in the fall and cv. Chunhua (E. japonica×Eriobotrya bengalensis Hook. f.) that blooms in the spring) and found that the starting time of inflorescence bud differentiation and the speed of inflorescence development were responsible for the difference in blooming times. The determination of endogenous phytohormones by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) indicated that abscisic acid (ABA), zeatin (ZT), and gibberellin (GA₃) promoted flowering in loquat, while indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) was mainly involved in inflorescence bud differentiation in Chunhua. A transcription level analysis illustrated that multiple flowering-related genes could respond to different signals, integrate to the TFL1, AP1 and FT genes, and then synergistically regulate flowering in loquat. Thus, this study provides a new insight into flowering regulation mechanisms in loquat.

开花是高等植物繁殖的重要过程。到目前为止，关于开花的研究主要集中在模式植物拟南芥上，而果树的开花机制仍然是未知的。lo（Eriobotrya japonica Lindl。）开花时间的多样性使其成为研究开花调控的理想材料。在本研究中，我们首先观察到两个开花时间不同的of品种（大叶杏（E. japonica），秋天开花，而春花（E. japonica×Eriobotrya bengalensis））的花序芽分化。钩。f。）在春天开花），发现花序芽分化的开始时间和花序发育的速度是开花时间差异的原因。高效液相色谱（HPLC）测定内源性植物激素表明，脱落酸（ABA），玉米素（ZT）和赤霉素（GA ₃）促进lo的开花，而吲哚-3-乙酸（IAA）主要参与春花的花序芽分化 转录水平分析表明，多个与开花相关的基因可以响应不同的信号，并整合到TFL1，AP1和FT中基因，然后协同调节lo的开花。因此，本研究为lo的开花调控机制提供了新的见识。