Feeling Every Bit of Winter – Distributed Temperature Sensitivity in Vernalization
Open Access
- 27 January 2021
- journal article
- review article
- Published by Frontiers Media SA in Frontiers in Plant Science
Abstract
Temperature intrinsically influences all aspects of biochemical and biophysical processes. Organisms have therefore evolved strategies to buffer themselves against thermal perturbations. Many organisms also use temperature signals as cues to align behavior and development with certain seasons. These developmentally important thermosensory mechanisms have generally been studied in constant temperature conditions. However, environmental temperature is an inherently noisy signal, and it has been unclear how organisms reliably extract specific temperature cues from fluctuating temperature profiles. In this context, we discuss plant thermosensory responses, focusing on temperature sensing throughout vernalization in Arabidopsis. We highlight many different timescales of sensing, which has led to the proposal of a distributed thermosensing paradigm. Within this paradigm, we suggest a classification system for thermosensors. Finally, we focus on the longest timescale, which is most important for sensing winter, and examine the different mechanisms in which memory of cold exposure can be achieved.Keywords
This publication has 25 references indexed in Scilit:
- A prion-like domain in ELF3 functions as a thermosensor in ArabidopsisNature, 2020
- An RNA thermoswitch regulates daytime growth in ArabidopsisNature Plants, 2020
- Oxygen-dependent proteolysis regulates the stability of angiosperm polycomb repressive complex 2 subunit VERNALIZATION 2Nature Communications, 2018
- Temperature Sensing Is Distributed throughout the Regulatory Network that Controls FLC Epigenetic Silencing in VernalizationCell Systems, 2018
- Absence of warmth permits epigenetic memory of winter in ArabidopsisNature Communications, 2018
- Phytochromes function as thermosensors in ArabidopsisScience, 2016
- Fluctuating, warm temperatures decrease the effect of a key floral repressor on flowering time in Arabidopsis thalianaNew Phytologist, 2015
- Local chromatin environment of a Polycomb target gene instructs its own epigenetic inheritanceeLife, 2015
- A Polycomb-based switch underlying quantitative epigenetic memoryNature, 2011
- Robust control of the seasonal expression of the Arabidopsis FLC gene in a fluctuating environmentProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2010