An expanding list: Another flowering time gene, FLOWERING LOCUS T, regulates flower development

Abstract

The beauty of flowers requires proper floral patterning, during which the temporal and spatial expression of floral homeotic genes are regulated to specify floral organs in floral meristems. Regulation of floral patterning early occurs in emerging floral primordia, which is prior to the emergence of floral organs and mediated by an everexpanding list of regulators. We have recently reported the regulation of floral patterning by a new genetic pathway governed by three flowering time genes, SHORT VEGETATIVE PHASE (SVP), SUPPRESSOR OF OVEREXPRESSION OF CONSTANS 1 (SOC1) and AGAMOUS-LIKE 24 (AGL24). Here we show that another key flowering time gene, FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT), is also involved in regulating floral patterning. Our results suggest that flowering time genes are important regulators in the whole process of flower ontogeny from initial specification of incipient floral primordia to flower differentiation. © 2009 Landes Bioscience.