花瓣衰老是观赏品质的决定因素之一，延迟花瓣衰老在园艺花卉上具有重要的经济价值。目前，对乙烯敏感型花瓣衰老的研究比较深入，而对于乙烯不敏感型花瓣衰老的研究相对滞后。非洲菊是世界五大鲜切花之一，其花瓣衰老属于乙烯不敏感型。我们的前期工作发现拟南芥WDS1是叶片衰老的一个重要调控因子，通过同源搜索克隆了非洲菊同源基因GhWDS1。通过分析其表达模式发现，GhWDS1很可能参与非洲菊舌状花花瓣的衰老。本研究拟开展GhWDS1在非洲菊花瓣衰老中的功能研究，并对其下游调控基因进行分析，探索乙烯不敏感型花瓣衰老的机制，研究也能够为非洲菊观赏品质的改良提供新的基因资源。

Petal senescence is one of the decisive factors of flower quality, so that delayed petal senescence enhances the marketability of susceptible commodities such as cut flower and potted plants. Contrasted with ethylene dependent petal senescence, progress in understanding ethylene independent petal senescence has lagged behind. Gerbera is one of the most important cut flower in the global market, and its petal senescence is ethylene independent. Our previous analysis showed that Arabidopsis WDS1 is an important regulator of leaf senescence. We cloned the homolog of Arabidopsis WDS1 in Gerbera, and the down regulated expression of WDS1 in senescencing petal suggested GhWDS1 may be involved in regulating petal senescence in Gerbera. In this project, we will characterize the function of GhWDS1 in petal senescence in Gerbera. To understand the molecular mechanism of WDS1, we will identify the candidate of interaction protein and analyze the possible downstream genes. Our results will also be important for breeding of improving the flower quality.