Molecular basis of flowering under natural long-day conditions in Arabidopsis

Young Hun Song, Akane Kubota, Michael S Kwon, Michael F Covington, Nayoung Lee, Ella R Taagen, Dianne Laboy Cintrón, Dae Yeon Hwang, Reiko Akiyama, Sarah K Hodge, He Huang, Nhu H Nguyen, Dmitri A Nusinow, Andrew J Millar, Kentaro K Shimizu, Takato Imaizumi

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract / Description of output

Plants sense light and temperature changes to regulate flowering time. Here, we show that expression of the Arabidopsis florigen gene, FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT), peaks in the morning during spring, a different pattern than we observe in the laboratory. Providing our laboratory growth conditions with a red/far-red light ratio similar to open-field conditions and daily temperature oscillation is sufficient to mimic the FT expression and flowering time in natural long days. Under the adjusted growth conditions, key light signalling components, such as phytochrome A and EARLY FLOWERING 3, play important roles in morning FT expression. These conditions stabilize CONSTANS protein, a major FT activator, in the morning, which is probably a critical mechanism for photoperiodic flowering in nature. Refining the parameters of our standard growth conditions to more precisely mimic plant responses in nature can provide a powerful method for improving our understanding of seasonal response.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)824-835
Number of pages12
JournalNature Plants
Volume4
Issue number10
Early online date24 Sept 2018
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Oct 2018

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

  • flowering
  • light responses
  • plant signalling
  • photoperiodism
  • environmental regulation
  • phenology
  • eco-physiology
  • Circadian

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