Sensing and flowering
January 7th, 2010 Posted in NewsA recent research project, carried out at The University of Edinburgh, may have discovered a link that explains how seasonal daylight fluctuations alter the activities of plants.
Computer modellings of mouse-ear cress (a small flowering plant) revealed interactions between the genes responsible for the plant’s internal rhythm and those controlling seasonal events. It is thought, that changes in day-length result in a modification of the activity of the genes, on which the exact flowering time is determined.
According to Professor Andrew Millar, leader of the research project at the University of Edinburgh’s School of Biological Sciences: “growing knowledge about the mechanism in simple plants may provide further understanding of the system in more complex organisms. The comparison among plants and between the plant and animal kingdoms in terms of the evolutionary relationship of daylight preceiving are also of interests.”
-Dong Liu
