CO/FT regulatory module controls timing of flowering and seasonal growth cessation in trees.

• Forest trees display a perennial growth behavior characterized by a multiple-year delay in flowering and, in temperate regions, an annual cycling between growth and dormancy. We show here that the CO/FT regulatory module, which controls flowering time in response to variations in daylength in annual plants, controls flowering in aspen trees. Unexpectedly, however, it also controls the short-day–induced growth cessation and bud set occurring in the fall. This regulatory mechanism can explain the ecogenetic variation in a highly adaptive trait: the critical daylength for growth cessation displayed by aspen trees sampled across a latitudinal gradient spanning northern Europe.

Keyword

Adaptation; Physiological/genetics

Arabidopsis/genetics/growth & development

Arabidopsis Proteins/genetics/physiology

DNA-Binding Proteins/genetics/physiology

Flowers/*genetics/growth & development

Gene Expression Regulation; Plant

Genes; Plant

Germany

Photoperiod

Phytochrome A/genetics/physiology

Plant Proteins/*genetics/physiology

Plants; Genetically Modified

Populus/*genetics/growth & development

Seasons

Sweden

Transcription Factors/genetics/physiology

Trees/*genetics/growth & development

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)