Flowering time control by miR159 in gloxinia

Gloxinia (Sinningia speciosa) is a popular ornamental plant with attractive, colourful flowers, but the genetic mechanisms that regulate flowering are largely unknown. Li et al. generate transgenic gloxinia plants that over-express or supress miR159, and determine that this leads to late and early flowering, respectively. miR159-mediated SsGAMYB expression affects the expression levels of SsLEAFY (SsLFY) and three MADS-box genes (SsAP1, SsAP3 and SsAG), which regulated floral transition downstream of GAMYB. They conclude that transgenic manipulation of miR159 has the potential to be used to regulate flowering time in commercial ornamental plants.