TIMING IS EVERYTHING. “In the life cycle of an angiosperm plant, the transition from vegetative to reproductive growth is a key developmental step that is under tight genetic control. To maximize reproductive success, the timing of this switch is coordinated with both the environment and the physiological state of the plant.” https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168952510001873 View in LinkedIn
GENES BEHIND FLOWERING. “It has been shown that floral initiation is under tight genetic control, and deciphering the underlying molecular mechanisms has been a main area of interest in plant biology for the past two decades.” https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168952510001873 View in LinkedIn
FLOWERS ARE KEY. “The onset of flower formation is a key regulatory event during the life cycle of angiosperm plants, which marks the beginning of the reproductive phase of development.” https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168952510001873 View in LinkedIn
GENETIC REPRESSORS. “These so-called floral repressors...acts both in leaves and the apical meristem and, with its expression controlled by epigenetic mechanisms as well as at a direct transcriptional level, acts as the central component of the vernalization response pathway.” https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168952510001873 View in LinkedIn
CONSTANS ACTIVATES FLOWERING LOCUS. “The FT protein is a component of the mobile flowering signal ‘florigen’ that moves upon its expression in the vascular tissue of leaves to the shoot apex. The capability of CO to induce FT expression is counteracted by several regulators that repress FT through different mechanisms or pathways, thereby preventing precocious flowering.” https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168952510001873 View in LinkedIn
THE CASCADE. “CO activates the expression of FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT), probably by binding to FT regulatory regions and by interacting with transcription factors of the NF-YB and NF-YC classes 11, 12, 13.” https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168952510001873 View in LinkedIn
CONSTANS GENE. “CO codes for a zinc finger and CCT-domain-containing transcription factor that accumulates under long day conditions in leaves as a result of the combination of the rhythmic expression of CO mRNA and the stabilization of CO protein by light.” https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168952510001873 View in LinkedIn
“LONG DAYS accelerate flowering via the photoperiodic (day length) pathway, which is mediated by CONSTANS (CO).” https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168952510001873 View in LinkedIn
EPIGENETIC CUES. “In Arabidopsis, flowering in response to seasonal changes is controlled by the vernalization, photoperiod and ambient temperature pathways, which act coordinately with those that respond to endogenous and developmental cues: the autonomous, gibberellin and age-dependent pathways (see Figure 1).” https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168952510001873 View in LinkedIn