The timing of the ethylene increase was almost identical in
attached and detached petals, but with slight differences in DcACS1
and DcACO1 transcript levels (Fig. 2). Thus, although the genes
responsible for ethylene biosynthesis can be induced in detached
petals in the absence of a gynoecium, DcACS1 and DcACO1 transcript
levels decreased more slowly in detached petals than attached
petals. We observed that petal wilting progressed somewhat more
slowly in detached petals than in attached petals (data not shown),which may be related to the slight differences in the gene expression