Winter ends and the layer of snow clears off the ground. The soil is fresh for new cycle of vegetation. It instantly converts to a beautiful expanse of flowers and fresh plants. How does such a drastic change occur? How did the plants 'know' the change in seasons. They don't have an almanac or the weather channel to tell them of the ending cold, or do they??
Julia and colleagues undertook to understand the sensing of winter-to-spring transformation in plants. It is possibly the most important decision for the survival of the plant. Arising anew from winter needs to be perfectly timed. A little early, and the frosty cold will chill the new life. A little late and the other plants would have taken away precious space and resources, making it difficult to fight for survival. And importantly, its a one time event: an on-off switch. The plant needs to integrate a million parameters into a single result. An elaborate chain of events culminating into a life or death choice.
How does the switch operate? Julia and colleagues map the system to basepair resolution by finding the machinery and its corresponding binding sites on the plant genome for controlling the process. This amazing feat (for plant and the team) is a perfect example of how simplicity underlies complex decision making. To understand more, please listen to Julia.
To know more, please refer to:
Arabidopsis transcriptional repressor VAL1 triggers Polycomb silencing at FLC during vernalization.
Qüesta et al., Science 2016.
Julia and colleagues undertook to understand the sensing of winter-to-spring transformation in plants. It is possibly the most important decision for the survival of the plant. Arising anew from winter needs to be perfectly timed. A little early, and the frosty cold will chill the new life. A little late and the other plants would have taken away precious space and resources, making it difficult to fight for survival. And importantly, its a one time event: an on-off switch. The plant needs to integrate a million parameters into a single result. An elaborate chain of events culminating into a life or death choice.
How does the switch operate? Julia and colleagues map the system to basepair resolution by finding the machinery and its corresponding binding sites on the plant genome for controlling the process. This amazing feat (for plant and the team) is a perfect example of how simplicity underlies complex decision making. To understand more, please listen to Julia.
To know more, please refer to:
Arabidopsis transcriptional repressor VAL1 triggers Polycomb silencing at FLC during vernalization.
Qüesta et al., Science 2016.
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