The Bloom in Spring

Vernalization, the coordinating of flowering with springtime, allows plants to accelerate flowering once the cold of winter is past. Levy et al. have now identified one of the molecular regulators of the vernalization response in the small flowering plant Arabidopsis. VRN1 is a DNA-binding protein that helps keep a floral repressor molecule out of action and allows flowering to proceed. VRN1 also shows an intriguing propensity to alter flowering time without working through this particular floral repressor, which suggests that floral initiation integrates inputs from multiple pathways. Y. Y. Levy, S. Mesnage, J. S. Mylne, A. R. Gendall, C. Dean, Multiple roles of Arabidopsis VRN1 in vernalization and flowering time control. Science 297, 243-246 (2002). [Abstract] [Full Text]