PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Böhlenius, Henrik
AU  - Huang, Tao
AU  - Charbonnel-Campaa, Laurence
AU  - Brunner, Amy M.
AU  - Jansson, Stefan
AU  - Strauss, Steven H.
AU  - Nilsson, Ove
TI  - <em>CO/FT</em> Regulatory Module Controls Timing of Flowering and Seasonal Growth Cessation in Trees
AID  - 10.1126/science.1126038
DP  - 2006 May 19
TA  - Science
PG  - 1040--1043
VI  - 312
IP  - 5776
4099  - http://science.sciencemag.org/content/312/5776/1040.short
4100  - http://science.sciencemag.org/content/312/5776/1040.full
SO  - Science2006 May 19; 312
AB  - Forest trees display a perennial growth behavior characterized by a multiple-year delay in flowering and, in temperate regions, an annual cycling between growth and dormancy. We show here that the CO/FT regulatory module, which controls flowering time in response to variations in daylength in annual plants, controls flowering in aspen trees. Unexpectedly, however, it also controls the short-day–induced growth cessation and bud set occurring in the fall. This regulatory mechanism can explain the ecogenetic variation in a highly adaptive trait: the critical daylength for growth cessation displayed by aspen trees sampled across a latitudinal gradient spanning northern Europe.