News » 11.09.2025 - Looking into the reasons why plant flowering occurs

Plants cannot move to chase comfort, yet they still need to choose the right season to reproduce. A new study explains how a small plant uses blue light and cool air together to decide when to flower. The study shows how one pathway senses blue light and another senses low temperature, and how they meet to control the transition to flowering.

Arabidopsis thaliana uses a blue light sensor called PHOT2 and a helper protein named NPH3 to read light signals. When the air is cool, a temperature responsive gene switch called CAMTA2 turns on another gene called EHB1. The EHB1 gene then connects with NPH3, which brings the light and temperature signals together. The plant starts flowering only when both conditions are met – blue light is present and the air is cool.

"Here we show that signals from the blue photoreceptor combine with low temperature information to control flowering," wrote Seluzicki.

Seasonal timing depends on multiple cues, not a single trigger. A recent review outlines how plants sense temperature through changes in cell membranes, protein activity, and chromatin.
 

Source: www.floraldaily.com

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