Arabidopsis circadian clock and photoperiodism: time to think about location.
Plants possess a circadian clock that enables them to coordinate internal biological events with external daily changes. Recent studies in Arabidopsis revealed that tissue-specific clock components exist and that the clock network architecture also varies within different organs. These findings indicate that the makeup of circadian clock(s) within a plant is quite variable. Plants utilize the circadian clock to measure day-length changes for regulating seasonal responses, such as flowering. To ensure that flowering occurs under optimum conditions, the clock regulates diurnal CONSTANS (CO) expression. Subsequently, CO protein induces FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT) expression which leads to flowering. It is emerging that both CO and FT expression are intricately controlled by groups of transcription factors with overlapping functions.
Imaizumi
Takato
T
Department of Biology, University of Washington, 24 Kincaid Hall, Box 351800, Seattle, WA 98195-1800, USA. takato@u.washington.edu
D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000378:metabolism; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D002940:Circadian Rhythm; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D035264:Flowers / Q000254:growth & development; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D017440:Photoperiod; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins; C114425:CCA1 protein, Arabidopsis; C092776:CONSTANS protein, Arabidopsis; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; C418905:FT protein, Arabidopsis; C411822:TOC1 protein, Arabidopsis; D014157:Transcription Factors