Flowering articles from across Nature Portfolio

The florigen activation complex drives the pivotal transition from vegetative growth to flowering in response to inductive daylengths. Recent work, which incorporates novel components and reveals the multifunctionality of established members of the complex, now uncovers a multi-layered assembly mechanism and an unexpected spatiotemporal distribution of the complex.

The molecular mechanisms underlying nitrogen (N)-dependent flowering regulation remain unclear. Here, the authors reveal Hd6, a known factor involved in photoperiodic flowering regulation, as a key signaling component in rice heading date variation under different N conditions.

This study reports that the CK2 kinase–H3K27 methyltransferase (PRC2) signalling promotes genome-wide H3K27 trimethylation and the formation of epigenetic cold memory at a potent floral repressor in Arabidopsis in response to prolonged cold exposure.

Several genes in regulating flowering time have been identified in soybean, but the epigenetic regulators are still largely unknown. Here, the authors identify GmLDL2, a histone H3K4me1/2 demethylase, as a crucial flowering time regulator in soybean.

Stochastic gene expression from non-constitutive promoters in a multicellular organism remains largely uncharacterized. Here, the authors report stochastic expression of auxin responsive genes in the Arabidopsis floral meristem and reveal different patterns of gene expression noise.

Here it is shown that the handedness of mirror-image flowers in Cyanella alba is not genetically determined but linked to the spiral arrangement of leaves and asymmetric auxin activity. This reveals a non-genetic mechanism for floral asymmetry.

The florigen activation complex drives the pivotal transition from vegetative growth to flowering in response to inductive daylengths. Recent work, which incorporates novel components and reveals the multifunctionality of established members of the complex, now uncovers a multi-layered assembly mechanism and an unexpected spatiotemporal distribution of the complex.

A ubiquitous protein kinase phosphorylates and stabilizes a key epigenetic effector in Arabidopsis, potentially contributing to mechanisms in plants for timing the duration of winter.

Identification of NERD-interacting proteins reveals a role for this protein in N⁶-methyladenosine deposition at the FLC locus to regulate flowering time.

Maximization of reproductive success is critical for plant fitness. To this end, the flowering process must be finely tuned. We show that the rice florigen-like protein FT-L1 contributes to plant entrance into the reproductive phase and enables a balanced progression of inflorescence development.