Overexpression of AtLEAFY Accelerates Flowering in Brassica juncea

The floral meristem identity gene LEAFY (LFY) from Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh. can accelerate flowering in dicotyledonous plants. In this report, we raised transgenic plants of Brassica juncea (L.) Czern. cv. Varuna carrying the LEAFY gene (LFY) in sense and antisense orientation and studied the effect of modulation of LFY expression on flowering. The time required for the initiation of flowering was found to be reduced by 19% (similar to 1 wk earlier) in the transgenic plants overexpressing LFY as compared with the wild-type untransformed control plants. Moreover, no significant yield penalty was observed in these transgenic plants. Altogether, these results open up the possibility of manipulating the flowering time in B. juncea without significant yield penalty or abnormalities.