Florigen and Florigen-Like Genes Regulate Temperature-Responsive Flowering in Tomato.

ABSTRACT: Seasonal temperature fluctuations serve as crucial environmental cues that regulate plant reproductive timing, yet the mechanisms underlying thermoresponsive flowering regulation in tomato remain poorly understood. The study uncovers a temperature-sensing mechanism in the tomato shoot apical meristem coordinated through antagonistic interactions between a florigen-like protein FLOWERING LOCUS T-Like 2 (FTL2) and florigen protein SINGLE-FLOWER TRUSS (SFT). Under short day conditions, FTL2 expression is specifically upregulated at the shoot apex by high temperature and functions as a flowering repressor. FTL2 physically interacts with the floral inducer SFT, directly suppressing its transcriptional activity to delay floral transition. This FTL2-SFT regulatory circuit enables tomato precise i

SUBMITTER: Song J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12533152 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature