Rn. Reese et al., EXPRESSION OF VEGETATIVE STORAGE PROTEIN (VSP-BETA) IN SOYBEAN RACEMETISSUES IN RESPONSE TO FLOWER SET, Journal of Experimental Botany, 46(289), 1995, pp. 957-964
Abortion of flowers and pods (> 25%) appears to be part of the normal
developmental sequence in Glycine max [L.] Merr. Slow growth rates of
seeds and pods, and development of an abscission zone in raceme tissue
s subtending flowers destined to abort contribute to this loss, but th
e processes leading to these events have not been elucidated. Rescue o
f soybean flowers destined to abort was accomplished by removal of pro
ximal flowers and/or application of 1 mM benzyladenine (BA) before ant
hesis. Raceme tissues (axes and pedicels, including the abscission zon
e) subtending setting and aborting flowers were examined for different
ial protein expression to identify gene products that were directly as
sociated with the induction of flower set. Induction to set was associ
ated with increased protein concentrations, Transcription and translat
ion of a soybean vegetative storage protein (VSP-beta) in the subtendi
ng raceme tissues was directly linked to flower set. Cytokinin applica
tion increased growth of raceme tissues independent of fruit set. A mo
del system for future studies of regulation of soybean flower set and
abortion is presented.