CRISPR editing of TERMINAL FLOWER 1 recapitulates perpetual flowering in strawberry, mimicking repression by the PERPETUAL FLOWERING locus.
5 affiliations
- 1Department of Plant Sciences, University of California Davis, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616, United States.
- 2U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Horticultural Crops Production and Genetic Improvement Research Unit, 3420 NW Orchard Avenue, Corvallis, OR 97330, United States.
- 3Department of Fruit Tree Sciences, Newe Ya'ar Research Center, Agricultural Research Organization (ARO), Volcani Center, Derech HaMaccabim 68, Rishon LeZion, Israel.
- 4John Innes Centre, Norwich Research Park, Colney Ln, Norwich NR4 7UH, United Kingdom.
- 5Foundation Plant Services, University of California Davis, One Shields Ave, Davis, CA 95616, United States.
Abstract
The development of perpetual flowering (PF) cultivars revolutionized octoploid strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa) cultivation by enabling nearly year-round fruit production and doubling fruit yields compared to historic seasonal flowering (SF) cultivars, which flower in spring. Most commercial PF cultivars result from the introgression of a dominant PERPETUAL FLOWERING (PF) allele at the PERPETUAL FLOWERING RUNNERING (PFRU) locus. PFRU has been genetically and physically mapped to chromosome 4B, but the causal gene(s) remain unknown. Here we used the haplotype-phased "UCD Royal Royce" (PFpf) genome, next-generation sequencing-based k-mer genome-wide association study (k-mer GWAS), and RNAseq to investigate PFRU. We narrowed the locus down to a precise physical address and revealed abundant genetic and transcriptomic differences in the locus and associated with flowering. Outside the PFRU locus, flowering regulation diverges at expression of TERMINAL FLOWER 1 (TFL1) in all 4 subgenomes, analogous to diploid Fragaria vesca. This critical step of the flowering pathway is altered by PF in diverse cultivars, and gene editing knockout of TFL1 is sufficient to induce flowering under long days in a seasonal flowering cultivar. Together, these results shed light on the mechanism of flowering regulation by the PF locus and expand biotechnological approaches to achieve extended flowering in any strawberry cultivar.
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BibTeX
@article{bjornson2026crispr,
title = {{CRISPR editing of TERMINAL FLOWER 1 recapitulates perpetual flowering in strawberry, mimicking repression by the PERPETUAL FLOWERING locus.}},
author = {Marta Bjornson and Michael A Hardigan and Juan M Debernardi and Hillel Brukental and Dominique D A Pincot and Mishi V Vachev and Randi A Famula and Glenn S Cole and Dianne Velasco and Maher Al Rwahnih and Mitchell J Feldmann and Steven J Knapp},
journal = {Plant physiology},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1093/plphys/kiag684},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42852998},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - CRISPR editing of TERMINAL FLOWER 1 recapitulates perpetual flowering in strawberry, mimicking repression by the PERPETUAL FLOWERING locus.
AU - Marta Bjornson
AU - Michael A Hardigan
AU - Juan M Debernardi
AU - Hillel Brukental
AU - Dominique D A Pincot
AU - Mishi V Vachev
AU - Randi A Famula
AU - Glenn S Cole
AU - Dianne Velasco
AU - Maher Al Rwahnih
AU - Mitchell J Feldmann
AU - Steven J Knapp
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/01
JO - Plant physiology
DO - 10.1093/plphys/kiag684
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42852998
AB - The development of perpetual flowering (PF) cultivars revolutionized octoploid strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa) cultivation by enabling nearly year-round fruit production and doubling fruit yields compared to historic seasonal flowering (SF) cultivars, which flower in spring. Most commercial PF cultivars result from the introgression of a dominant PERPETUAL FLOWERING (PF) allele at the PERPETUAL FLOWERING RUNNERING (PFRU) locus. PFRU has been genetically and physically mapped to chromosome 4B, but the causal gene(s) remain unknown. Here we used the haplotype-phased "UCD Royal Royce" (PFpf) genome, next-generation sequencing-based k-mer genome-wide association study (k-mer GWAS), and RNAseq to investigate PFRU. We narrowed the locus down to a precise physical address and revealed abundant genetic and transcriptomic differences in the locus and associated with flowering. Outside the PFRU locus, flowering regulation diverges at expression of TERMINAL FLOWER 1 (TFL1) in all 4 subgenomes, analogous to diploid Fragaria vesca. This critical step of the flowering pathway is altered by PF in diverse cultivars, and gene editing knockout of TFL1 is sufficient to induce flowering under long days in a seasonal flowering cultivar. Together, these results shed light on the mechanism of flowering regulation by the PF locus and expand biotechnological approaches to achieve extended flowering in any strawberry cultivar.
SN - 0032-0889
SN - 1532-2548
ER -