Temperature Sensing Is Distributed throughout the Regulatory Network that Controls FLC Epigenetic Silencing in Vernalization.
Many organisms need to respond to complex, noisy environmental signals for developmental decision making. Here, we dissect how Arabidopsis plants integrate widely fluctuating field temperatures over month-long timescales to progressively upregulate VERNALIZATION INSENSITIVE3 (VIN3) and silence FLOWERING LOCUS C (FLC), aligning flowering with spring. We develop a mathematical model for vernalization that operates on multiple timescales-long term (month), short term (day), and current (hour)-and is constrained by experimental data. Our analysis demonstrates that temperature sensing is not localized to specific nodes within the FLC network. Instead, temperature sensing is broadly distributed, with each thermosensory process responding to specific features of the plants' history of exposure to warm and cold. The model accurately predicts FLC silencing in new field data, allowing us to forecast FLC expression in changing climates. We suggest that distributed thermosensing may be a general property of thermoresponsive regulatory networks in complex natural environments.
['Antoniou-Kourounioti|Rea L|RL|', 'Hepworth|Jo|J|', 'Heckmann|Amélie|A|', 'Duncan|Susan|S|', 'Qüesta|Julia|J|', 'Rosa|Stefanie|S|', 'Säll|Torbjörn|T|', 'Holm|Svante|S|', 'Dean|Caroline|C|', 'Howard|Martin|M|']
D017360:Arabidopsis D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins D057231:Climate Change D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins D044127:Epigenesis, Genetic D035264:Flowers D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant D053263:Gene Regulatory Networks D026161:MADS Domain Proteins D008954:Models, Biological D012621:Seasons D013697:Thermosensing D014157:Transcription Factors
temperature sensing FLC epigenetics vernalization VERNALIZATION INSENSITIVE3 VIN3 FLOWERING LOCUS C mathematical modeling climate change gene regulation phenology