Shedding light on the circadian clock and the photoperiodic control of flowering

Abstract

Recently, notable progress has been made towards understanding the genetic interactions that underlie the function of the circadian clock in plants, and how these functions are related to the seasonal control of flowering time. The LHY/CCA1 and TOC1 genes have been proposed to participate in a negative feedback loop that is part of the central oscillator of the circadian clock. Furthermore, analysis of a flowering-time pathway has suggested how transcriptional regulation by the circadian clock, combined with post-transcriptional regulation by light, could activate proteins that control flowering time in response to appropriate daylengths.