Regulation of flowering time by light quality

Pablo D. Cerdán and Joanne Chory ()
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Pablo D. Cerdán: The Salk Institute for Biological Studies
Joanne Chory: The Salk Institute for Biological Studies

Nature, 2003, vol. 423, issue 6942, 881-885

Abstract: Abstract The transition to flowering in plants is regulated by environmental factors such as temperature and light1. Plants grown under dense canopies or at high density perceive a decrease in the ratio of red to far-red incoming light. This change in light quality serves as a warning of competition, triggering a series of responses known collectively as the ‘shade-avoidance syndrome’. During shade avoidance, stems elongate at the expense of leaf expansion, and flowering is accelerated2,3. Of the five phytochromes—a family of red/far-red light photoreceptors—in Arabidopsis, phytochrome B (phyB) has the most significant role in shade-avoidance responses4,5, but the mechanisms by which phyB regulates flowering in response to altered ratios of red to far-red light are largely unknown. Here we identify PFT1 (PHYTOCHROME AND FLOWERING TIME 1), a nuclear protein that acts in a phyB pathway and induces flowering in response to suboptimal light conditions. PFT1 functions downstream of phyB to regulate the expression of FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT), providing evidence for the existence of a light-quality pathway that regulates flowering time in plants.

Date: 2003
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DOI: 10.1038/nature01636

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