This remarkable process relies on plants 'remembering' how much time has elapsed in low temperature conditions, through the gradual modification of a specific gene found in plant cells.
Previous research has shown that flowering is suppressed by a gene called FLOWERING LOCUS C (FLC). During periods of cold temperature, proteins around which the gene is wrapped are progressively modified and this shuts off expression of the gene, eventually enabling the plant to make the switch from the 'growing' stage to the 'flowering' stage of development.
While research has identified the regulators involved in shutting off the FLC gene, no research had managed to work out how these regulators identify their correct target.
In this new work, the team of scientists led by Professor Caroline Dean at the John Innes Centre let genetics show them the way. They studied a population of mutated plants and found an individual that failed to correctly respond to cold. They then tracked down where the mutation occurred in 
this individual, and found it to be a single base pair change within the FLC gene.
Further experiments successfully identified how the protein VAL1 recognizes the DNA sequence within the FLC gene. In the plant which failed to correctly respond to cold, the mutation prevented that recognition, so FLC could not be shut off.
Professor Caroline Dean said, "This exciting new development provides the first glimpse of how regulators in a cell identify which target genes to switch off. At FLC a specific sequence is recognized and without this sequence FLC won't be suppressed and the plant will never flower."
The paper, co-authored by Argentinian visitor Dr Julia Questa and published in Science, also outlines how the team investigated the binding site of VAL1 in the FLC genes of several closely related Brassica species and found it to be conserved, suggesting this type of regulation has been evolutionary conserved for the control of flowering.
Also, a new research from the University of British Columbia suggests evolution is a driving mechanism behind plant migration, and that scientists may be underestimating how quickly species can move.
The study, published in the journal Science, builds on previous research that has shown some plants and animals are moving farther north or to higher altitudes in an effort to escape rising global average temperatures due to climate change.
For the study, researchers used a small flowering plant (Arabidopsis thaliana), a common model organism in plant biology, to test the role of evolution in plant migration. Individual plants with different traits were cultivated together to create two sets of populations, one in which evolution was acting and another in which evolution was stopped.
However, more research is needed to determine why the researchers saw a larger effect of evolution under the more challenging conditions, which in this case increased the speed of movement.
Source: sciencedaily.com;delvefeed.com
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