The MADS box gene, AGAMOUS-LIKE 20 (AGL20), integrates environmental and endogenous flowering signals in Arabidopsis thaliana. In order to determine if its role is conserved in other plants, we isolated AGL20 orthologs from Brassica campestris, Cardamine flexuosa and Draba nemorosa. The putative amino acid sequences of the orthologs were 94 to 97% identical. We analyzed the flowering phenotype ...

The MADS domain--containing transcription factor FLOWERING LOCUS C (FLC) acts as an inhibitor of flowering and is a convergence point for several pathways that regulate flowering time in Arabidopsis. In naturally occurring late-flowering ecotypes, the FRIGIDA (FRI) gene acts to increase FLC levels, whereas the autonomous floral promotion pathway and vernalization act to reduce FLC expression. P...

Adaptation to latitudinal patterns of environmental variation is predicted to result in clinal variation in leaf traits. Therefore, this study tested for geographic differentiation and plastic responses to vernalization in leaf angle and leaf morphology in Arabidopsis thaliana. Twenty-one European ecotypes were grown in a common growth chamber environment. Replicates of each ecotype were expose...

Vernalization, the promotion of flowering by a prolonged period of low temperature, results in repression of the floral repressor FLOWERING LOCUS C (FLC) and in early flowering. This repression bears the hallmark of an epigenetic event: the low expression state is maintained over many cell division cycles, but expression is derepressed in progeny. We show that the two stages of the response of ...

Long exposure to cold (vernalization) accelerates flowering in winter cereals, a process regulated by the VRN1 (approximately AP1), VRN2, and VRN3 (approximately FT) vernalization genes. Flowering during the fall is prevented by the VRN2 downregulation of VRN3 and low VRN1 transcription. Vernalization induces VRN1, which is followed by the downregulation of VRN2, thereby releasing VRN3. In the ...

In wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), time from planting to spike emergence is influenced by genes controlling vernalization requirement and photoperiod response. Characterizing the available genetic diversity of known and novel alleles of VERNALIZATION1 (VRN1) and PHOTOPERIOD1 (PPD1) in winter wheat can inform approaches for breeding climate resilient cultivars. This study identified QTL for headin...

Selection for heading date has been a decisive factor to increase areas cropped with oats in Brazil. Although important oat breeders, genomic regions controlling have not completely identified. The objective of this study was identify subtropical environments. A set 412 genotypes, developed from 1974 2015, assessed contrasting environments and genotyped using genotyping–by–sequencing (GBS). Phe...

Plants have to cope with constantly changing conditions and need to respond to environmental stresses and seasonal changes in temperature and photoperiod. Alignment of their development with particular seasons requires memory mechanisms and an ability to integrate noisy temperature signals over long time scales. An increasingly well understood example of how seasonal changes influence developme...

At a certain stage in their life-cycle plants flower, that is they undergo the transition from vegetative to reproductive development. The correct timing of this transition is crucial for reproductive success, so the plant integrates multiple environmental and endogenous signals to judge when to flower. The Dean laboratory is studying the importance of prolonged cold for flowering, a process kn...