Guest seminar

Speaker: Ass. Prof. Dr. Richard Macknight: Flowering time and the evolutionary diversification of the floral hormone FT/florigin

Host: Prof. Dr. Rüdiger Simon, HHU

Abstract:
While flowering time has been studied extensively in Arabidopsis, less is know about floral regulation in other plants. FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT) genes encode proteins that function as the mobile floral signal, florigen, probably in all plants. We are investigating the mechanisms by which the model legume, Medicago truncatula flowers in response to long days and prolonged cold. This process involves multiple FT genes but not the key Arabidopsis FT regulators, CO and FLC. We have also discovered that in onion, FT genes not only regulate flowering but also control bulbs formation, highlighting the evolutionary versatility of FT.