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SUMMARY:Mechanisms conferring seasonal flowering responses in annual and p
 erennial plants  - George Coupland\, Max Plank Institute
DTSTART:20191031T130000Z
DTEND:20191031T140000Z
UID:TALK132316@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Pallavi Singh
DESCRIPTION:The plant life-cycle varies tremendously among species. We stu
 dy how flowering is controlled by seasonal cues in the context of annual a
 nd perennial life cycles. Annuals reproduce once in their life time produc
 ing high seed yields\, whereas perennials live for many years but limit th
 e extent of reproduction each year. We focus on the Brassicaceae family\, 
 in which annual species have diverged from perennials many times. We use a
 nnual Arabidopsis thaliana to decipher regulatory networks controlling sea
 sonal responses and exploit perennial Arabis alpina to determine how these
  networks change during evolution to confer ecologically significant diffe
 rences in flowering behaviour. Recently\, we showed how a network of micro
 RNAs and transcription factors act in the shoot apex to control the age at
  which the plant becomes sensitive to winter cold. The activity of this ne
 twork differs between annuals and perennials\, effectively delaying flower
 ing of perennials. The talk will describe our recent progress in understan
 ding regulatory processes that control the transition to flowering and how
  these diverge during evolution. 
LOCATION:Department of Plant Sciences\, Large Lecture Theatre
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