PARENT SESSION
Poster Session 20: Invasive Species
Wednesday, August 10, 5:00 PM - 6:30 PM, Exhibit Hall 220 A-E, Level 2, Palais des congrès de Montréal
Gender-specific responses to day length in the dioecious plant Silene latifolia at different growth temperatures.
Wang, Xianzhong1, 1 Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, Indianapolis
ABSTRACT- Silene latifolia is a model for studying many of the classical problems in biology. It is considered a reliable system because no physiological differences in response to environmental stimuli have been identified between males and females. In this study, I examined gender-specific responses to day length in S. latifolia at different growth temperatures. I hypothesized that temperature would interact with day length in affecting flowering in S. latifolia, because both males and females have been found to flower in a range of day length under various environmental conditions. Silene latifolia plants were grown at two temperatures (30/25 oC for the high temperature treatment and 15/10 oC for the low temperature treatment) in growth chambers. Day length was increased gradually from 6 hrs to until all plants flowered over a period of 8 months. Results showed that S. latifolia is a quantitative long day plant, starting flowering at a day length of 11 hrs. Flowering was accelerated until 16.5 hrs, when all plants flowered. Males and females did not differ in the proportions of plants flowering at low temperature, but males had a higher proportion flowering at the same day length than females at higher temperature. For example, 49% males flowered at 14 hrs day length while only 14% females did at the same day length. This study demonstrated that male and female S. latifolia plants responded to day length differently at different growth temperatures.
Key words: dioecy, flowering, long-day plant, Silene latifolia