Validation of A integumenta as a gene to modify floral size in ornamental plants

The gene AINTEGUMENTA (AtANT) is an APETALA2 transcription factor in Arabidopsis activating growth downstream of auxin signalling. Lateral organ size is positively correlated with ANT expression in Arabidopsis. We tested the use of AtANT as a tool to modify floral size in two different plants used as model organisms and ornamental crops, Petunia × hybrida and Antirrhinum majus. Petunia plants expressing PhANT RNAi showed a decrease in PhANT expression correlated with smaller petal limbs. In contrast Petunia plants overexpressing AtANT had larger petal limbs. Petal tube length was less affected in down-regulation of PhANT or overexpression of AtANT. Overexpression of AtANT in Antirrhinum caused increased flower size via increased petal limb width and tube length. Down-regulation of PhANT showed an effect on cell size while overexpression of AtANT in Petunia and Antirrhinum caused significant increases in cell expansion that could explain the differences in floral organ size. The endogenous expression levels of PhANT and AmANT tended to be higher in the limb than in the tube in both Antirrhinum and Petunia. AtANT overexpression caused significant AmANT up-regulation in Antirrhinum limbs but not of PhANT in Petunia, indicating differences in the regulatory network. The differential effect of AtANT on limb and tube in Petunia and Antirrhinum correspond to phenotypic differences observed in natural variation in the corresponding genus indicating a relation between the phenotypic space of a genus and the effect of modified ANT levels, validating ANT as a gene to modify floral size.