Vernalization pathway
Winter wheat requires several weeks at low temperature (vernalization) to initiate flowering. Our lab identified and characterized the four vernalization genes that control vernalization response in wheat:
- Positional cloning of the wheat vernalization gene VRN1 (Yan et al. 2003 PNAS)
- The wheat VRN2 gene is a flowering repressor down-regulated by vernalization (Yan et al. 2004 Science)
- The wheat and barley vernalization gene VRN3 is an orthologue of FT (Yan et al. 2006 PNAS)
- Identification of the VERNALIZATION 4 gene reveals the origin of spring growth habit in ancient wheats from South Asia (Kippes et al. 2015 PNAS)
Photoperiod pathway
Plants perceive variation in day length (photoperiod) to anticipate seasonal changes. Complex regulatory mechanisms ensure that flowering occurs only under favorable conditions. In wheat, heading time is greatly accelerated under long-day conditions.
- PHYTOCHROME C plays a major role in the acceleration of wheat flowering under long-day photoperiod (Chen et al. 2014 PNAS)
- RNA-seq studies using wheat PHYTOCHROME B and PHYTOCHROME C mutants reveal shared and specific functions in the regulation of flowering and shade-avoidance pathway (Pearce et al. 2016 BMC Plant Bio)
- Night-break experiments shed light on the Photoperiod1-mediated flowering (Pearce et al. 2017 Plant Phys)
- Epistatic interactions between PHOTOPERIOD1, CONSTANS1 and CONSTANS2 modulate the photoperiodic response in wheat (Shaw et al. 2020 Plos Gen)
- EARLY FLOWERING 3 interactions with PHYTOCHROME B and PHOTOPERIOD1 are critical for the photoperiodic regulation of wheat heading time (Alvarez et al. 2023 Plos Gen)
- GIGANTEA accelerates wheat heading time through gene interactions converging on FLOWERING LOCUS T1 (Li et al. 2024 Plant J)
Age pathway
In addition to vernalization and photoperiod, plant age, tracked by the concentration of microRNAs, is integrated into the regulation of flowering.
- MiR172-APETALA2-like genes integrate vernalization and plant age to control flowering time in wheat (Debernardi et al. 2022 Plos Gen)
- MicroRNA156 and its targeted SPL genes interact with the photoperiod, vernalization, and gibberellin pathways to regulate wheat heading time (Liu et al. 2026 Plant J)
Gibberellin pathway
- Exogenous gibberellins induce wheat spike development under short days only in the presence of VERNALIZATION1 (Pearce et al 2013 Plant Pays)
- See also (Pearce et al. 2017 Plant Phys)
