Abstract
Flower development and plant architecture determine the efficiency of mechanized harvest and seed yield in Brassica napus. Although TERMINAL FLOWER 1 (AtTFL1) is a regulator of flower development in Arabidopsis thaliana, the function and regulatory mechanism of TFL1 orthologs in B. napus remains unclear. Six BnTFL1 paralogs in the genome of the B. napus inbred line ‘K407’ showed steadily increasing expression during vernalization. CRISPR/Cas-induced mutagenesis of up to four BnTFL1 paralogs resulted in early flowering and alteration of plant architecture, whereas seed yield was not altered in BnTFL1 single, double, or triple mutants. Six BnTFL1 paralogs, but not BnaA02.TFL1, showed an additive and conserved effect on regulating flowering time, total and terminal flower number, and plant architecture. BnaA10.TFL1 regulates flower development by interacting with BnaA08.FD through the protein BnaA05.GF14nu, resulting in the transcriptional repression of floral integrator and floral meristem identity genes. These findings about the regulatory network controlling flower development and plant architecture present a promising route to modifying these traits in B. napus.
