Photoperiodic Flowering Regulation in Arabidopsis thaliana

Abstract

Photoperiod, or the duration of light in a given day, is a critical cue that flowering plants utilize to effectively assess seasonal information and coordinate their reproductive development in synchrony with the external environment. The use of the model plant, Arabidopsis thaliana, has greatly improved our understanding of the molecular mechanisms that determine how plants process and utilize photoperiodic information to coordinate a flowering response. This mechanism is typified by the transcriptional activation of FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT) gene by the transcription factor CONSTANS (CO) under inductive long-day conditions in Arabidopsis. FT protein then moves from the leaves to the shoot apex, where floral meristem development can be initiated. As a point of integration from a variety of environmental factors in the context of a larger system of regulatory pathways that affect flowering, the importance of photoreceptors and the circadian clock in CO regulation throughout the day has been a key feature of the photoperiodic flowering pathway. In addition to these established mechanisms, the recent discovery of a photosynthate derivative trehalose-6-phosphate as an activator of FT in leaves has interesting implications for the involvement of photosynthesis in the photoperiodic flowering response that were suggested from previous physiological experiments in flowering induction.

The Effect of Fluctuations in Photoperiod and Ambient Temperature on the Timing of Flowering: Time to Move on Natural Environmental Conditions

“…The interaction between the circadian clock and light specifies photoperiod information (Golembeski et al, 2014). Expression of the CO gene is controlled by the circadian clock that results in oscillation of its mRNA abundance throughout a day (Suárez-López et al, 2001).…”

Cool night‐time temperatures induce the expression ofCONSTANSandFLOWERING LOCUS Tto regulate flowering in Arabidopsis

“…The day‐length dependent (photoperiodic) flowering pathway has been well studied in Arabidopsis thaliana (Golembeski et al ., ; Osugi & Izawa, ; Shrestha et al ., ). Components of this pathway are implicated in ambient‐temperature‐dependent flowering (Song et al ., ), indicating that light and temperature signals can be integrated into the same pathway.…”

Red Light-Mediated Degradation of CONSTANS by the E3 Ubiquitin Ligase HOS1 Regulates Photoperiodic Flowering in Arabidopsis

“…FT protein, and possibly TSF, are an essential part of this so called florigen (Corbesier et al, 2007;Jaeger and Wigge, 2007;Jang et al, 2009). The amount of FT strongly influences the timing of flowering in Arabidopsis (Andrés and Coupland, 2012;Golembeski et al, 2014).…”