Abscission, the programmed shedding of plant organs, is known to be essential for development and reproduction, but most mechanistic knowledge comes from model plants such as Arabidopsis. That system has been invaluable, yet it cannot fully explain how long-lived woody plants coordinate flower loss, fruit retention, and resource allocation under real reproductive pressures. In Prunus, abundant flowering increases the chance of fertilization, but trees cannot mature every flower into fruit because nutrient supply and developmental capacity are limited. Earlier studies mainly examined fruit detachment, leaving the timing and function of earlier floral shedding poorly understood. Based on these challenges, in-depth research was needed on how reproductive-stage abscission is coordinated in woody cherry species.
On November 14, 2025, researchers from Seoul National University reported (DOI: 10.1093/hr/uhaf317) in Horticulture Research that Prunus × yedoensis and Prunus sargentii regulate reproduction through a hierarchical abscission program in which petals, calyces, flower pedicels, fruit pedicels, and peduncles are shed in sequence to refine final fruit set.
The team tracked five abscission events across reproduction and showed that they occur in a fixed order: petal, flower pedicel-peduncle (flower PP), calyx, fruit PP, and peduncle-branch abscission. In P. × yedoensis, petals dropped rapidly after flowering even without pollination, showing that this first step follows an internal developmental timer rather than successful fertilization. By contrast, P. sargentii often retained petals on unfertilized flowers, and those flowers were later discarded whole through flower PP abscission, potentially extending the window for pollination. The study also found that fruit selection continued after fertilization. In P. × yedoensis, fruit PP abscission removed many small, slow-growing fruits; abscised fruits were much smaller than retained ones, and their seeds were only about 16.7% the size of seeds in retained fruits. Mechanistically, the process involved localized ethylene responsiveness, reactive oxygen species, pH shifts, and in some tissues lignin deposition, while the calyx abscission zone formed de novo rather than being pre-formed like other zones.
The study reframes floral shedding as a biological decision system. Instead of viewing dropped petals, flowers, or fruits as simple loss, the findings suggest that cherry trees are continuously evaluating reproductive success and developmental quality. By using sequential checkpoints, the plants can remove unfertilized flowers early, discard weak fruits later, and align reproductive output with what the tree can actually support. This makes abscission not just a structural process, but a dynamic reproductive filter that helps woody perennials balance opportunity with restraint under fluctuating pollination and resource conditions.
The work offers a broader framework for understanding how perennial fruit-bearing plants manage reproductive investment. It may help researchers and breeders think differently about fruit set, yield stability, and stress responses in cherries and related crops. Because the study links specific shedding stages with fertilization outcome, developmental progress, and physiological signals, it could also inform future efforts to improve fruit retention or control reproductive load under changing environments. Beyond horticulture, the findings expand the biological meaning of abscission itself: organ shedding is not merely the end of development, but part of how a plant actively chooses where to spend its limited energy.
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References
DOI
10.1093/hr/uhaf317
Original Source URL
https://doi.org/10.1093/hr/uhaf317
Funding information
Y.L. was supported by the Suh Kyungbae Foundation (SUHF-19010003) and a National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korean government (MSIT) (No. RS-2021-NR60084 and RS-2023-NR076399). J.-M.L. was supported by a Hyundai Motor Chung Mong-Koo scholarship. W.-T.J. and J.-M.L. were supported by the Stadelmann–Lee Scholarship Fund at Seoul National University, Korea.
About Horticulture Research
Horticulture Research is an open access journal of Nanjing Agricultural University and ranked number one in the Horticulture category of the Journal Citation Reports ™ from Clarivate, 2023. The journal is committed to publishing original research articles, reviews, perspectives, comments, correspondence articles and letters to the editor related to all major horticultural plants and disciplines, including biotechnology, breeding, cellular and molecular biology, evolution, genetics, inter-species interactions, physiology, and the origination and domestication of crops.