Review: Competence to flower

The transition between vegetative and reproductive stages in the plant life cycle implies a change in the developmental program of the shoot apical meristem to stop developing leaves and start developing floral buds. The factors that allow this transition to happen are many and the underlying mechanisms by which those factors induce flowering have been extensively studied. In this review, Hyun et al. go into the details of how miRNAs, especially miR156 and miR172, control when the plants get the competence to flower, and discuss their regulation of the SPL transcription factors and association with gibberellins. This miR156/SPL system seems to be ancient and quite conserved in flowering plants. (Summary by Gaby Auge) Plant Physiol. doi:10.1104/pp.16.01523