Coping with Climate Change for Next Generation of Farmers

Who has seen roses bloom in December? Now that the climate has been muddled up, it is no surprise to see roses flower at Christmas. Scientists studying how plants naturally evolve to cope with the changing seasons of temperate climates have made a discovery that can be useful in breeding crops able to adapt to global warming.

Researchers at the John Innes Centre (JIC) have been examining how plants use the cold of winter to time their flowering for the relative warmth of spring. This process, called vernalization, varies even within the same plant species, depending on local climate. One particular gene, named FLC, delays flowering over the winter and the research team discovered how cold turns off FLC and what keeps it off during growth in spring.
To read more, visit http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk/media/pressreleases/07_01_10_plants.html.