Skip Navigation


AOBPreview originally published online on March 21, 2009
Annals of Botany 2009 103(8):1165-1172; doi:10.1093/aob/mcp063
This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
103/8/1165    most recent
mcp063v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Related articles in Ann Bot
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Greenup, A.
Right arrow Articles by Trevaskis, B.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Greenup, A.
Right arrow Articles by Trevaskis, B.
Agricola
Right arrow Articles by Greenup, A.
Right arrow Articles by Trevaskis, B.
Related Collections
Right arrow Arabidopsis
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?


© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Annals of Botany Company. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

INVITED REVIEW

The molecular biology of seasonal flowering-responses in Arabidopsis and the cereals

Aaron Greenup, W. James Peacock, Elizabeth S. Dennis and Ben Trevaskis*

Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, Division of Plant Industry, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory 2601, Australia

* For correspondence. E-mail Ben.Trevaskis{at}csiro.au

Received: 30 November 2008    Returned for revision: 28 January 2009    Accepted: 11 February 2009    Published electronically: 21 March 2009

Background: In arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana), FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT) and FLOWERING LOCUS C (FLC) play key roles in regulating seasonal flowering-responses to synchronize flowering with optimal conditions. FT is a promoter of flowering activated by long days and by warm conditions. FLC represses FT to delay flowering until plants experience winter.

Scope: The identification of genes controlling flowering in cereals allows comparison of the molecular pathways controlling seasonal flowering-responses in cereals with those of arabidopsis. The role of FT has been conserved between arabidopsis and cereals; FT-like genes trigger flowering in response to short days in rice or long days in temperate cereals, such as wheat (Triticum aestivum) and barley (Hordeum vulgare). Many varieties of wheat and barley require vernalization to flower but FLC-like genes have not been identified in cereals. Instead, VERNALIZATION2 (VRN2) inhibits long-day induction of FT-like1 (FT1) prior to winter. VERNALIZATION1 (VRN1) is activated by low-temperatures during winter to repress VRN2 and to allow the long-day response to occur in spring. In rice (Oryza sativa) a VRN2-like gene Ghd7, which influences grain number, plant height and heading date, represses the FT-like gene Heading date 3a (Hd3a) in long days, suggesting a broader role for VRN2-like genes in regulating day-length responses in cereals. Other genes, including Early heading date (Ehd1), Oryza sativa MADS51 (OsMADS51) and INDETERMINATE1 (OsID1) up-regulate Hd3a in short days. These genes might account for the different day-length response of rice compared with the temperate cereals. No genes homologous to VRN2, Ehd1, Ehd2 or OsMADS51 occur in arabidopsis.

Conclusions: It seems that different genes regulate FT orthologues to elicit seasonal flowering-responses in arabidopsis and the cereals. This highlights the need for more detailed study into the molecular basis of seasonal flowering-responses in cereal crops or in closely related model plants such as Brachypodium distachyon.

Key words: Flowering, vernalization, photoperiod, day length, VRN1, VRN2, FLC, FT, cereals, arabidopsis, MADS


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?

Related articles in Ann Bot:

ContentSnapshots

Ann Bot 2009 103: i. [Extract] [Full Text]  



This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 GeneticsHome page
S. Ducrocq, C. Giauffret, D. Madur, V. Combes, F. Dumas, S. Jouanne, D. Coubriche, P. Jamin, L. Moreau, and A. Charcosset
Fine Mapping and Haplotype Structure Analysis of a Major Flowering Time Quantitative Trait Locus on Maize Chromosome 10
Genetics, December 1, 2009; 183(4): 1555 - 1563.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.