REGULATION OF FLOWERING TIME - ARABIDOPSIS AS A MODEL SYSTEM TO STUDY GENES THAT PROMOTE OR DELAY FLOWERING

The time that plants flower is often tightly regulated and adapted to the locations in which they grow. The basis of this regulation has been analysed using genetic and physiological approaches since the early decades of this century. The study of flowering time in the model plant species Arabidopsis thaliana has allowed many genes involved in regulating flowering time to be identified as mutations, and for the genetic interactions between these mutations to have been studied. Furthermore, two genes required to promote flowering of Arabidopsis have recently been isolated, and their sequences have provided some insight into the identity of proteins involved in regulating flowering time.