Analysis of transgenic potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) with altered expression of StFKF1 at two developmental stages

The control of tuber formation is a complex molecular mechanism. So far, the current model of the tuberization pathway was adapted from the flowering pathway from Arabidopsis thaliana. According to this current model, the blue light receptor StFKF1 acts as a negative regulator of tuber formation. To further elucidate its role, we generated transgenic plants with either overexpressing GFP-StFKF1 or with a downregulation of StFKF1 expression via an RNAi- approach. Transgenic GFP-StFKF1 plants exhibited an earlier tuberization compared to WT plants while RNAi-StFKF1 plants flowered earlier. To elucidate the underlying mechnism that leads to these different phenotypes, leaf samples for RNA-Seq were taken at two different time points during the development after 4 and 7 weeks during the day at ZT8.