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Originally published in Science Express on 11 August 2005
Science 9 September 2005:
Vol. 309. no. 5741, pp. 1694 - 1696
DOI: 10.1126/science.1117768
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Research Articles

The mRNA of the Arabidopsis Gene FT Moves from Leaf to Shoot Apex and Induces Flowering

Tao Huang,1 Henrik Böhlenius,1 Sven Eriksson,1 François Parcy,2 Ove Nilsson1*

Day length controls flowering time in many plants. The day-length signal is perceived in the leaf, but how this signal is transduced to the shoot apex, where floral initiation occurs, is not known. In Arabidopsis, the day-length response depends on the induction of the FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT) gene. We show here that local induction of FT in a single Arabidopsis leaf is sufficient to trigger flowering. The FT messenger RNA is transported to the shoot apex, where downstream genes are activated. These data suggest that the FT mRNA is an important component of the elusive "florigen" signal that moves from leaf to shoot apex.

1 Umeå Plant Science Centre, Department of Forest Genetics and Plant Physiology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, S-90183, Umeå, Sweden.
2 Laboratoire de Physiologie Cellulaire Végétale, Département Réponse et Dynamique Cellulaires (DRDC/PCV), Unité Mixte de Recherche 5168 [(UMR) Joint Research Unit] Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique (CEA), Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), Université Joseph Fourier, 17 rue des Martyrs, bâtiment C2–38054, Grenoble Cedex 9, France.

Note added in proof: It has now been shown that FT can act in the shoot apex by controlling the activity of the shoot apex–expressed transcription factor FD (22, 23).

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: Ove.Nilsson{at}genfys.slu.se

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