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Despite the fact that plants are stationary, their surroundings are ever-changing. Plants need to continuously measure the temperature, brightness, and duration of the day in order to grow and blossom at the appropriate times. However, how all of this information is used to trigger certain actions is still unknown.
Researchers at the Salk Institute have uncovered a genetic system that allows plants to regulate their flowering by combining information about temperature and light.
Researchers discovered a connection between two genetic mechanisms that indicates the presence of both blue light as well as low temperature in a study that was published in Nature Communications. Plants can better adjust their flowering to the ideal environmental circumstances with the aid of this genetic module.
In one pathway, the supporting protein NPH3 assists in the activation of the PHOT2 blue light receptor by blue light. In another pathway, a transcription factor called CAMTA2 is able to increase the expression of a gene called EHB1 when the ambient temperature is low. Crucially, NPH3 is at the point where the blue light and low temperature signals merge since EHB1 is known to interact with it. By connecting the presence of blue light with low temperature, this genetic design efficiently functions as a coincidence detector, directing the transition to flowering.
An essential element of plant development, reproduction, and information processing is described in this Salk research. In low temperatures, the recently identified genetic mechanism gives plants precise control over when they bloom. Salk’s Harnessing Plants Initiative will now be able to maximize crop development in the face of shifting environmental circumstances thanks to an understanding of this system.
Animals will relocate if they don’t like their surroundings. Because plants are unable to do so, they gather as much information as they can in order to comprehend their surroundings and react accordingly. Researchers have now identified a genetic mechanism that plants employ to integrate information about low temperatures and blue light to control a critical stage of development and reproduction. This discovery will have major implications for the production of food in the future.
Sources:
Adam Seluzicki et al. (2025). Genetic architecture of a light-temperature coincidence detector, Nature Communications. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-62194-y
Genetic mechanism reveals how plants coordinate flowering with light and temperature conditions. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-genetic-mechanism-reveals-temperature-conditions.html
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