Abstract
Timing of flowering, which is adapted to the ambient environment, is one of the key traits to ensure the reproductive success of plants. Our current understanding of the complex genetic control network of this trait is mostly derived from the studies in the model plant species Arabidopsis thaliana. Arabidopsis thaliana is an annual facultative long-day plant, whose flowering time is controlled by numerous environmental and endogenous factors. Here we briefly summarize the genetic pathways that promote flowering of Arabidopsis and describe standard protocols to characterize the flowering time phenotype of Arabidopsis mutants under laboratory conditions.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
de Montaigu A, Tóth R, Coupland G (2010) Plant development goes like clockwork. Trends Genet 26:296–306
Jarillo JA, Piñeiro M (2011) Timing is everything in plant development. The central role of floral repressors. Plant Sci 181:364–378
Michaels SD (2009) Flowering time regulation produces much fruit. Curr Opin Plant Biol 12:75–80
Andrés F, Coupland G (2012) The genetic basis of flowering responses to seasonal cues. Nat Rev Genet 13:627–639
Fornara F, de Montaigu A, Coupland G (2010) SnapShot: control of flowering in Arabidopsis. Cell 141:550, 550.e1–2
Wellmer F, Riechmann JL (2010) Gene networks controlling the initiation of flower development. Trends Genet 26:519–527
Hayama R, Coupland G (2004) The molecular basis of diversity in the photoperiodic flowering responses of Arabidopsis and rice. Plant Physiol 135:677–684
Imaizumi T, Kay SA (2006) Photoperiodic control of flowering: not only by coincidence. Trends Plant Sci 11:550–558
Song YH, Shim JS, Kinmonth-Schultz HA, Imaizumi T (2015) Photoperiodic flowering: time measurement mechanisms in leaves. Annu Rev Plant Biol 66:441–464
Johanson U, West J, Lister C, Michaels S, Amasino R, Dean C (2000) Molecular analysis of FRIGIDA, a major determinant of natural variation in Arabidopsis flowering time. Science 290:344–347
Kim D-H, Doyle MR, Sung S, Amasino RM (2009) Vernalization: winter and the timing of flowering in plants. Annu Rev Cell Dev Biol 25:277–299
Michaels SD, He Y, Scortecci KC, Amasino RM (2003) Attenuation of FLOWERING LOCUS C activity as a mechanism for the evolution of summer-annual flowering behavior in Arabidopsis. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 100:10102–10107
Song J, Angel A, Howard M, Dean C (2012) Vernalization - a cold-induced epigenetic switch. J Cell Sci 125:3723–3731
Zografos BR, Sung S (2012) Vernalization-mediated chromatin changes. J Exp Bot 63:4343–4348
Wilson RN, Heckman JW, Somerville CR (1992) Gibberellin is required for flowering in Arabidopsis thaliana under short days. Plant Physiol 100:403–408
Harberd NP (2003) Relieving DELLA restraint. Science 299:1853–1854
Schwechheimer C, Willige BC (2009) Shedding light on gibberellic acid signalling. Curr Opin Plant Biol 12:57–62
Kardailsky I, Shukla VK, Ahn JH, Dagenais N, Christensen SK, Nguyen JT, Chory J, Harrison MJ, Weigel D (1999) Activation tagging of the floral inducer FT. Science 286:1962–1965
Lee H, Suh SS, Park E, Cho E, Ahn JH, Kim SG, Lee JS, Kwon YM, Lee I (2000) The AGAMOUS-LIKE 20 MADS domain protein integrates floral inductive pathways in Arabidopsis. Genes Dev 14:2366–2376
Abe M, Kobayashi Y, Yamamoto S, Daimon Y, Yamaguchi A, Ikeda Y, Ichinoki H, Notaguchi M, Goto K, Araki T (2005) FD, a bZIP protein mediating signals from the floral pathway integrator FT at the shoot apex. Science 309:1052–1056
Weigel D, Alvarez J, Smyth DR, Yanofsky MF, Meyerowitz EM (1992) LEAFY controls floral meristem identity in Arabidopsis. Cell 69:843–859
Wigge PA, Kim MC, Jaeger KE, Busch W, Schmid M, Lohmann JU, Weigel D (2005) Integration of spatial and temporal information during floral induction in Arabidopsis. Science 309:1056–1059
Möller-Steinbach Y, Alexandre C, Hennig L (2010) Flowering time control. Methods Mol Biol 655:229–237
Acknowledgements
The work in authors’ laboratory is supported by grants of the National Institute of Health (GM56265 to CL), National Science Foundation of China (31500991 to QW) and National Science Foundation of Fujian Province in China (2017J01604 to XW). The authors thank the UCLA-FAFU (Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University) Joint Research Center, Haixia Institute of Science and Technology, and Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Haixia Applied Plant Systems Biology for institutional supports.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature
About this protocol
Cite this protocol
Wang, X., Liu, Q., He, W., Lin, C., Wang, Q. (2019). Characterization of Flowering Time Mutants. In: Hiltbrunner, A. (eds) Phytochromes. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 2026. Humana, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-9612-4_16
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-9612-4_16
Published:
Publisher Name: Humana, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4939-9611-7
Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-9612-4
eBook Packages: Springer Protocols