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SUMMARY:Seasonal control of flowering in annual and perennial plants - Pro
 fessor George Coupland - MPI for Plant Breeding\, Cologne
DTSTART:20090305T160000Z
DTEND:20090305T170000Z
UID:TALK15806@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:3901
DESCRIPTION:We are comparing the mechanisms by which the life cycles of an
 nual and perennial plants are synchronised to the changing seasons. Arabid
 opsis thaliana is a model annual plant and we have shown how circadian-clo
 ck regulation of transcription of specific regulatory genes and photorecep
 tor signaling combine to promote flowering of this species in response to 
 long summer days. As a perennial species\, we have used Arabis alpina\, wh
 ich diverged from Arabidopsis around 30 million years ago. We have studied
  the effects of vernalization (exposure to low winter temperatures) on the
  life cycle of Arabis alpina and propose that genes involved in vernalizat
 ion of Arabidopsis are differently regulated in A. alpina to confer perenn
 ial-specific traits. Evolution of the regulation of these genes involves c
 hanges in chromatin regulation. The talk will expand on these comparative 
 approaches to study flowering-time control. \n\nhttp://www.mpiz-koeln.mpg.
 de/english/research/couplandGroup/coupland/
LOCATION:Department of Plant Sciences\, Large Lecture Theatre
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