The Evolutionary Aspects of Flowering Control: Florigens and Anti-Florigens

Abstract

For successful survival and reproduction in various environmental conditions, over the course of evolution, plants have formed a complex of regulatory mechanisms that control their development depending on environmental changes. The transition of plants to sexual reproduction is an important stage in their life cycle, and depending on the growing conditions, different groups of plants choose optimal periods to induce this development program. The initiation of flowering in angiosperms is controlled by a series of complex regulatory pathways that integrate information from the environment, primarily temperature and photoperiod, which are indicators of the changing seasons and thus signals for starting the flowering program. In Arabidopsis thaliana, one of the key regulators of flowering is the FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT) protein, a florigen, whose homologs have been found in other angiosperms. This review considers molecular mechanisms of flowering regulation with the participation of FT-like proteins in different plant groups, as well as the role of these proteins in other developmental processes. Particular attention is paid to the evolutionary changes that occurred in FT-like genes during adaptation to certain environmental conditions, as well as during plant breeding.