Award details

Pathways mediating vernalization requirement and response

Reference	BBS/E/J/00000581
Principal Investigator / Supervisor	Professor Dame Caroline Dean
Co-Investigators / Co-Supervisors
Institution	John Innes Centre
Department	John Innes Centre Department
Funding type	Research
Value (£)	3,323,619
Status	Completed
Type	Institute Project
Start date	01/04/1997
End date	31/03/2017
Duration	240 months

Abstract

The Dean lab is investigating the pathways involved in vernalization, the acceleration of flowering by prolonged cold. Arabidopsis thaliana is being used as the reference system to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying the pathways that determine the requirement for, and ability to respond to vernalization. The central regulator in these processes is FLC and its regulation provides an excellent system in which to define conserved chromatin regulatory pathways. The pathways determining requirement for vernalization include FRIGIDA and the autonomous pathway and their analysis has identified novel functions for RNA processing components in chromatin silencing mechanisms and elaborated co-transcriptional mechanisms linking RNA processing with transcription. The importance of these functions genome-wide and the impact of different environmental cues on their function are now also under investigation. The Dean lab work on the vernalization response pathway has revealed that plants ‘remember’ they have experienced the prolonged cold of winter through a conserved Polycomb chromatin mechanism. We are continuing to dissect the different facets of vernalization with the goal of generating a quantitative model that reveals how the chromatin silencing is induced by low temperature and how individual components of the chromatin silencing network are integrated into a robust whole (in collaboration with Prof. M Howard). We are also examining the molecular variation in the vernalization pathway that has enabled Arabidopsis accessions to adapt to growth in a wide range of climates. This work will elucidate the molecular basis of local adaptation and is likely to have implications for how plants will adapt to a changing climate. It is also providing important knowledge useful for analysing and manipulating vernalization in different species, in particular Brassica (undertaken by Dr J. Irwin and Dr D. Laurie).

Summary

unavailable

Committee	Not funded via Committee
Research Topics	Plant Science
Research Priority	X – Research Priority information not available
Research Initiative	X - not in an Initiative
Funding Scheme	X – not Funded via a specific Funding Scheme

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