FLOWERS have long memories. They can remember the long chill of winter, presetting their genes for flowering months later.
A team led by Caroline Dean at the John Innes Centre in Norwich have worked out how. When a young plant first experiences cold, the chill switches off a gene called FLC that blocks flowering. “If some plants don’t experience cold, they simply won’t flower,” says team member Gordon Simpson.
But the plant doesn’t grow flowers straight away. Instead, a second gene called VRN2 keeps FLC in the “off position”, maintaining the memory of the cold while non-flowering parts of the plant mature.…
