AUTHOR=Kennedy Alice , Geuten Koen 

TITLE=The Role of FLOWERING LOCUS C Relatives in Cereals

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Plant Science

VOLUME=11

YEAR=2020

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/plant-science/articles/10.3389/fpls.2020.617340

DOI=10.3389/fpls.2020.617340

ISSN=1664-462X

ABSTRACT=<p><italic>FLOWERING LOCUS C</italic> (<italic>FLC</italic>) is one of the best characterized genes in plant research and is integral to vernalization-dependent flowering time regulation. Yet, despite the abundance of information on this gene and its relatives in <italic>Arabidopsis thaliana</italic>, the role <italic>FLC</italic> genes play in other species, in particular cereal crops and temperate grasses, remains elusive. This has been due in part to the comparative reduced availability of bioinformatic and mutant resources in cereals but also on the dominant effect in cereals of the <italic>VERNALIZATION</italic> (<italic>VRN</italic>) genes on the developmental process most associated with <italic>FLC</italic> in <italic>Arabidopsis</italic>. The strong effect of the <italic>VRN</italic> genes has led researchers to believe that the entire process of vernalization must have evolved separately in <italic>Arabidopsis</italic> and cereals. Yet, since the confirmation of the existence of <italic>FLC</italic>-like genes in monocots, new light has been shed on the roles these genes play in both vernalization and other mechanisms to fine tune development in response to specific environmental conditions. Comparisons of <italic>FLC</italic> gene function and their genetic and epigenetic regulation can now be made between <italic>Arabidopsis</italic> and cereals and how they overlap and diversify is coming into focus. With the advancement of genome editing techniques, further study on these genes is becoming increasingly easier, enabling us to investigate just how essential <italic>FLC</italic>-like genes are to modulating flowering time behavior in cereals.</p>