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Historical perspective on breakthroughs in flowering field

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Abstract

Plants have evolved a mechanism to synchronize flowering time in response to environments. How plants recognize specific seasons for flowering has been a long sought question, thus, more than 100 years of research has been focused on this question. Especially in the past two decades, remarkable achievements have been made in identifying the molecular mechanism for flowering. Here we summarize the breakthroughs made in this field over the past century including discoveries of photoperiodic and vernalization-induced flowering, the identification of complex genetic pathways, and the recently proposed identity of florigen. In addition, we present the currently accepted model for a molecular mechanism toward flowering.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Research Laboratory of Plant Developmental Genetics, Department of Biological Sciences, Seoul National University, 51-742, Seoul, Korea

    Mijin Oh & Una Lee

  2. Global Research Laboratory for Flowering, Seoul National University and University of Wisconsin, 151-742, Seoul, Korea

    Una Lee

  3. Plant Metabolism Research Center, Kyung Hee University, 449-701, Suwon, Korea

    Una Lee

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  1. Mijin Oh
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  2. Una Lee
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Correspondence to Una Lee.

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Oh, M., Lee, U. Historical perspective on breakthroughs in flowering field. J. Plant Biol. 50, 249–256 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03030652

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