Roles of DgBRC1 in Regulation of Lateral Branching in Chrysanthemum (Dendranthema ×grandiflora cv. Jinba)

The diverse plasticity of plant architecture is largely determined by shoot branching. Shoot branching is an event regulated by multiple environmental, developmental and hormonal stimuli through triggering lateral bud response. After perceiving these signals, the lateral buds will respond and make a decision on whether to grow out. TCP transcriptional factors, BRC1/TB1/FC1, were previously proven to be involved in local inhibition of shoot branching in Arabidopsis, pea, tomato, maize and rice. To investigate the function of BRC1, we isolated the BRC1 homolog from chrysanthemum. There were two transcripts of DgBRC1 coming from two alleles in one locus, both of which complemented the multiple branches phenotype of Arabidopsis brc1-1, indicating that both are functionally conserved. DgBRC1 was mainly expressed in dormant axillary buds, and down-regulated at the bud activation stage, and up-regulated by higher planting densities. DgBRC1 transcripts could respond to apical auxin supply and polar auxin transport. Moreover, we found that the acropetal cytokinin stream promoted branch outgrowth whether or not apical auxin was present. Basipetal cytokinin promoted outgrowth of branches in the absence of apical auxin, while strengthening the inhibitory effects on lower buds in the presence of apical auxin. The influence of auxin and strigolactons (SLs) on the production of cytokinin was investigated, we found that auxin locally down-regulated biosynthesis of cytokinin in nodes, SLs also down-regulated the biosynthesis of cytokinin, the interactions among these phytohormones need further investigation.