Scholarlink

<p>The precious timing of flowering in higher plants is essential for successful reproduction and is strongly shaped by environmental cues, especially light. Photoperiodism, the ability to sense day length, is a key mechanism that helps plants to match their development stages with favourable conditions. Light is detected by specific photoreceptors such as phytochromes, cryptochromes, and Zeitlupe proteins, which work together with the circadian clock to produce daily rhythmic signals. These signalling pathways control important flowering genes, mainly <i>CONSTANS</i> (<i>CO</i>) and <i>FLOWERING LOCUS T</i> (<i>FT</i>), which guide the shift from vegetative to reproductive growth. Research in <i>Arabidopsis thaliana</i>, a facultative long-day plant, has been crucial for identifying these molecular pathways. This knowledge has also helped in elucidating different flowering responses in temperate cereals like wheat and barley, and in short-day species such as rice. Although FT-like proteins act as conserved flowering signals, crops have also developed species-specific regulatory systems, including Ppd-H1/D1 in cereals and the Hd1–Hd3a and Ghd7–Ehd1–Hd3a/RFT1 modules in rice. Beyond day length, plants also adjust flowering through light quality, light intensity, temperature, and hormones. New regulators such as miR172 and AP2-like transcription factors add further control. This review explains how plants combine environmental cues with internal signals to fine-tune flowering time. Understanding these networks will help in designing crop varieties with improved adaptation, stability, and productivity in a changing climate.</p>

错误：搜索内容不能为空，请输入英文关键词
错误：关键词超出字数限制，请精简
高级检索

Light Mediated Flowering in Plants: Mechanisms and Molecular Insights

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年2月24日

查看全文
  • Soumya Chatterjee,
  • Nasrin Banu Khan,
  • Purba Sarkar,
  • Chandan Barman

摘要

The precious timing of flowering in higher plants is essential for successful reproduction and is strongly shaped by environmental cues, especially light. Photoperiodism, the ability to sense day length, is a key mechanism that helps plants to match their development stages with favourable conditions. Light is detected by specific photoreceptors such as phytochromes, cryptochromes, and Zeitlupe proteins, which work together with the circadian clock to produce daily rhythmic signals. These signalling pathways control important flowering genes, mainly CONSTANS (CO) and FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT), which guide the shift from vegetative to reproductive growth. Research in Arabidopsis thaliana, a facultative long-day plant, has been crucial for identifying these molecular pathways. This knowledge has also helped in elucidating different flowering responses in temperate cereals like wheat and barley, and in short-day species such as rice. Although FT-like proteins act as conserved flowering signals, crops have also developed species-specific regulatory systems, including Ppd-H1/D1 in cereals and the Hd1–Hd3a and Ghd7–Ehd1–Hd3a/RFT1 modules in rice. Beyond day length, plants also adjust flowering through light quality, light intensity, temperature, and hormones. New regulators such as miR172 and AP2-like transcription factors add further control. This review explains how plants combine environmental cues with internal signals to fine-tune flowering time. Understanding these networks will help in designing crop varieties with improved adaptation, stability, and productivity in a changing climate.