Photoperiod and Flowering in Plants
First published: 2016
Brief summary
Overview of photoperiodism and how seasonal day-length cycles regulate flowering and reproduction.
Article
Photoperiodism is the regulation of plant development in response to the relative lengths of day and night. It allows flowering and other seasonal events to occur under environmental conditions appropriate for reproduction.
Plants detect light through photoreceptors, while the circadian system provides an internal measure of time. The interaction between light perception and circadian regulation allows plants to distinguish changing seasonal day lengths.
In Arabidopsis, the CONSTANS pathway contributes to the activation of FLOWERING LOCUS T under long-day conditions. The resulting signal moves from leaves to the shoot apex, where it promotes the transition to flowering.
Plant species differ in their photoperiodic responses. Long-day, short-day and day-neutral plants use different combinations of day length, temperature, developmental age and other environmental signals to control flowering.
Source details and credits
- Source / publisher: PMC / Molecular Plant
- Source type: Review
- URL type: WWW
- Credits: PMC / Molecular Plant
- URL: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5210731/