Cytokinin signalling regulates two-stage inflorescence arrest in Arabidopsis

Abstract

To maximise their reproductive success, flowering plants must correctly time their entry into and exit from the reproductive phase (flowering). While much is known about the mechanisms that regulate the initiation of flowering, the regulation of end-of-flowering remains largely uncharacterised. End-of-flowering in Arabidopsis thaliana consists of the quasi-synchronous arrest of individual inflorescences, but it is unclear how this arrest is correctly timed with respect to environmental stimuli and ongoing reproductive success. Here we show that Arabidopsis inflorescence arrest is a complex developmental phenomenon which includes a decline in size and cessation of activity in the inflorescence meristem (IM), coupled with a separable developmental arrest in all unopened floral primordia (floral arrest); these events occur well before the visible arrest of the inflorescence. We show that global removal of inflorescences can delay both IM arrest and floral arrest, but that local fruit removal only delays floral arrest, emphasising the separability of these processes. We test a role for cytokinin in regulating inflorescence arrest, and find that cytokinin treatment can delay arrest. We further show that gain-of-function cytokinin receptor hypersensitive mutants can delay floral arrest, and also IM arrest, depending on the expression pattern of the receptor; conversely, loss-of-function mutants prevent extension of flowering in response to inflorescence removal. Collectively, our data suggest that the dilution of cytokinin among an increasing number of sink organs leads to end-of-flowering in Arabidopsis by triggering IM and floral arrest, conversely meaning that a lack of reproductive success can homeostatically extend flowering in compensation.