Benlloch, Reyes
- Department of Forest Genetics and Plant Physiology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Abstract
Cultivated beets (Beta vulgaris ssp. vulgaris) are unable to form reproductive shoots during the first year of their life cycle. Flowering only occurs if plants get vernalized, that is, pass through the winter, and are subsequently exposed to an increasing day length (photoperiod) in spring. Here, we show that the regulation of flowering time in beets is controlled by the interplay of two paralogs of the FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT) gene in Arabidopsis that have evolved antagonistic functions. BvFT2 is functionally conserved with FT and essential for flowering. In contrast, BvFT1 represses flowering and its down-regulation is crucial for the vernalization response in beets. These data suggest that the beet has evolved a different strategy relative to Arabidopsis and cereals to regulate vernalization.
Published in
Science
2010, volume: 330, number: 6009, pages: 1397-1400
SLU Authors
Nilsson, Ove
- Department of Forest Genetics and Plant Physiology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
- Department of Forest Genetics and Plant Physiology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
UKÄ Subject classification
Forest Science
Publication identifier
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1197004
Permanent link to this page (URI)
https://res.slu.se/id/publ/31996