Blázquez M A
Plant Biology Laboratory, Salk Institute, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA.
Bioessays. 1997 Apr;19(4):277-9. doi: 10.1002/bies.950190403.
Higher plants must undergo a major developmental switch, the transition to flowering, if they are to successfully complete their life cycle. In many plants, the crucial decision of when to begin to produce flowers is primarily controlled by environmental signals. The process of floral induction involves the integration of the activities of two types of genes: those that control flowering time as a response to the environment as well as an endogenous clock, and those that determine the floral identity of the cells. The first direct link between these two classes of genes has now been demonstrated. Forced expression of CONSTANS, a flowering-time gene, promotes flowering through the transcriptional activation of LEAFY, a flower-meristem-identity gene.
高等植物若要成功完成其生命周期，就必须经历一次重大的发育转变，即向开花的转变。在许多植物中，何时开始开花这一关键决定主要受环境信号控制。成花诱导过程涉及两类基因活动的整合：一类基因控制开花时间，以响应环境以及内源生物钟；另一类基因决定细胞的花器官特性。现在已经证明了这两类基因之间的首个直接联系。开花时间基因CONSTANS的强制表达通过花分生组织特性基因LEAFY的转录激活来促进开花。
