Transcription factor PIF4 controls the thermosensory activation of flowering

• Published in: Nature (London) 2012-04, Vol.484 (7393), p.242-245
• Main Authors: Kumar, S. Vinod, Lucyshyn, Doris, Jaeger, Katja E., Alós, Enriqueta, Alvey, Elizabeth, Harberd, Nicholas P., Wigge, Philip A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 631/208/212/2019; 631/449/2491; 631/449/2679/2681; 631/45/612/822; Agronomy. Soil science and plant productions; Arabidopsis - growth & development; Arabidopsis - metabolism; Arabidopsis Proteins - genetics; Arabidopsis Proteins - metabolism; Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Transcription Factors - genetics; Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Transcription Factors - metabolism; Biological and medical sciences; Climate change; Climate effects; Flowering plants; Flowers - growth & development; Flowers - metabolism; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; Genetics and breeding of economic plants; Humanities and Social Sciences; letter; multidisciplinary; Photoperiod; Plant growth; Plant Leaves - metabolism; Pollinators; Promoter Regions, Genetic - genetics; Proteins; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Signal Transduction; Temperature; Time Factors
• ISSN: 0028-0836; 1476-4687
• DOI: 10.1038/nature10928

A novel mechanism by which warming temperatures can directly activate flowering in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana . The influence of temperature on flowering Plant growth and development are affected by changes in temperature. In this study, Wigge and colleagues investigate how plants control the timing of their reproduction in response to increases in temperature. The authors provide a mechanism by which increasing temperatures can directly activate flowering in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana . Flowering time is an important trait in crops, and mechanistic insights into how temperature increases affect this process will be important for mitigating the effects of climate change. Plant growth and development are strongly affected by small differences in temperature 1 . Current climate change has already altered global plant phenology and distribution 2 , 3 , and projected increases in temperature pose a significant challenge to agriculture 4 . Despite the important role of temperature on plant development, the underlying pathways are unknown. It has previously been shown that thermal acceleration of flowering is dependent on the florigen, FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT) 5 , 6 . How this occurs is, however, not understood, because the major pathway known to upregulate FT , the photoperiod pathway, is not required for thermal acceleration of flowering 6 . Here we demonstrate a direct mechanism by which increasing temperature causes the bHLH transcription factor PHYTOCHROME INTERACTING FACTOR4 (PIF4) to activate FT . Our findings provide a new understanding of how plants control their timing of reproduction in response to temperature. Flowering time is an important trait in crops as well as affecting the life cycles of pollinator species. A molecular understanding of how temperature affects flowering will be important for mitigating the effects of climate change.