Natural haplotypes of FLM non-coding sequences fine-tune flowering time in two ambient spring temperatures in Arabidopsis

Delaying reproduction until conditions are favorable is a key to success. FLOWERING LOCUS C is a well-known regulator of flowering that delays flowering until after winter vernalization. In the spring, FLOWERING LOCUS M (FLM) fine-tunes flowering time in response to ambient temperatures between 5ºC and 23ºC. Lutz et al. found that the expression level of FLM is temperature dependent and that allelic variants in the promoter and intron that affect expression level are found in Arabidopsis accessions originating from different parts of Europe. Furthermore, when introduced into transgenic plants, these natural variants recapitulated their effects on FLM expression and flowering time. eLIFE 10.7554/eLife.22114