title: Maternal temperature history activates Flowering Locus T in fruits to control progeny dormancy according to time of year.
abstract: Seasonal behavior is important for fitness in temperate environments but it is unclear how progeny gain their initial seasonal entrainment. Plants use temperature signals to measure time of year, and changes to life histories are therefore an important consequence of climate change. Here we show that in Arabidopsis the current and prior temperature experience of the mother plant is used to control germination of progeny seeds, via the activation of the florigen Flowering Locus T (FT) in fruit tissues. We demonstrate that maternal past and current temperature experience are transduced to the FT locus in silique phloem. In turn, FT controls seed dormancy through inhibition of proanthocyanidin synthesis in fruits, resulting in altered seed coat tannin content. Our data reveal that maternal temperature history is integrated through FT in the fruit to generate a metabolic signal that entrains the behavior of progeny seeds according to time of year.
authors.affiliation: Department of Crop Genetics, John Innes Centre, Norwich, NR4 7UH, United Kingdom;
authors.forename: Min
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Crop Genetics, John Innes Centre, Norwich, NR4 7UH, United Kingdom;
authors.forename: Dana R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: MacGregor
authors.affiliation: Centre for Novel Agricultural Products, Department of Biology, University of York, YO10 5DD, United Kingdom;
authors.forename: Anuja
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dave
authors.affiliation: Biosciences, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, EX4 4QD, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Hannah
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Florance
authors.affiliation: Biosciences, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, EX4 4QD, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Moore
authors.affiliation: Biosciences, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, EX4 4QD, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Konrad
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Paszkiewicz
authors.affiliation: Biosciences, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, EX4 4QD, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Nicholas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Smirnoff
authors.affiliation: Centre for Novel Agricultural Products, Department of Biology, University of York, YO10 5DD, United Kingdom;
authors.forename: Ian A
authors.initials: IA
authors.lastname: Graham
authors.affiliation: Department of Crop Genetics, John Innes Centre, Norwich, NR4 7UH, United Kingdom; Steven.penfield@jic.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Steven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Penfield
mesh_terms: D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000502:physiology*; D060405:Florigen / Q000378:metabolism; D056426:Genetic Loci / Q000502:physiology*; D052585:Phloem / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D057445:Plant Dormancy / Q000502:physiology*; D044945:Proanthocyanidins / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics; D012639:Seeds / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology*; D013696:Temperature
chemical_list: D060405:Florigen; D044945:Proanthocyanidins; C013221:proanthocyanidin
keywords: germination; seed coat; seed dormancy; temperature; transgenerational