Transcriptomic analysis of flower bud dormancy in the sweet cherry cultivar 'Fertard'

Temperate perennial plants have to adapt their growth in order to survive over winter conditions and protect their tissues by entering into dormancy. The dormancy phenomenon is a complex process regulated by many factors, externals (photoperiod and temperature) or internals through the transport towards the buds. In order to better understand the molecular mechanisms involved in the regulation of dormancy, we conducted a transcriptomic analysis of flower buds from the late flowering sweet cherry cultivar 'Fertard' during dormancy, from October 2017 to March 2018. Flower buds of sweet cherry cultivar 'Fertard' were sampled from October 2017 to March 2018 at 6 dates: October 17th, December 8th, January 3rd, January 15th, February 12th and March 12th, with three biological replicates, corresponding to independent buds from three different trees.