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

Abstract

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

Published in

Science
2006, volume: 312, number: 5776, pages: 1040-1043
Publisher: AMER ASSOC ADVANCEMENT SCIENCE

SLU Authors

• Böhlenius, Henrik

  • Department of Forest Genetics and Plant Physiology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Huang, Tao

  • Department of Forest Genetics and Plant Physiology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Nilsson, Ove

  • 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.1126038

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/8866