Scientists believe they've pinpointed the last crucial piece of
the 80-year-old puzzle of how flowering plants know when to
flower. - It's in the genes: research pinpoints how plants know
when to flower. Determining the proper time to flower, important
if a plant is to reproduce successfully, involves a sequence of
molecular events, a plant's circadian clock and sunlight.
Understanding how flowering works in the simple plant used in
this study – Arabidopsis – should lead to a better understanding
of how the same genes work in more complex plants grown as crops
such as rice, wheat and barley, according to Takato Imaizumi, a
University of Washington assistant professor of biology and
corresponding author of a paper in the May 25 issue of the
journal Science. "If we can regulate the timing of flowering, we
might be able to increase crop yield by accelerating or delaying
this. Knowing the mechanism gives us the tools to manipulate
this," Imaizumi said. Along with food crops, the work might also
lead to higher yie