Florigenic and antiflorigenic signalling in plants

TL;DR

This paper reviews recent research on the molecular and physiological mechanisms by which florigenic and antiflorigenic signals, including FT proteins and other regulators, control flowering in plants.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of recent findings on gene products, hormones, and metabolites involved in floral signaling pathways in plants.

Findings

Identification of multiple systemic florigenic regulators

Recognition of diverse antiflorigenic mechanisms

Insights into molecular integration of flowering signals

Abstract

The evidence that Flowering Locus T (FT) protein and its paralog Twin Sister of FT, act as the long distance floral stimulus, or at least that they are part of it in diverse plant species, has attracted much attention in recent years. Studies to understand the physiological and molecular apparatuses that integrate spatial and temporal signals to regulate developmental transition in plants have occupied countless scientists and have resulted in an unmanageably large amount of research data. Analysis of these data has helped to identify multiple systemic florigenic and antiflorigenic regulators. This study gives an overview of the recent research on gene products, phytohormones and other metabolites that have been demonstrated to have florigenic or antiflorigenic functions in plants.