title: 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.
authors: Umeå Plant Science Centre, Department of Forest Genetics and Plant Physiology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, S-90183 Umeå, Sweden.
authors: Henrik
authors: H
authors: Böhlenius
authors: Tao
authors: T
authors: Huang
authors: Laurence
authors: L
authors: Charbonnel-Campaa
authors: Amy M
authors: AM
authors: Brunner
authors: Stefan
authors: S
authors: Jansson
authors: Steven H
authors: SH
authors: Strauss
authors: Ove
authors: O
authors: Nilsson