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Science 330 (6009): 1397-1400

Copyright © 2010 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science

An Antagonistic Pair of FT Homologs Mediates the Control of Flowering Time in Sugar Beet

Pierre A. Pin,1,2 Reyes Benlloch,1 Dominique Bonnet,3 Elisabeth Wremerth-Weich,2 Thomas Kraft,2 Jan J. L. Gielen,3 Ove Nilsson1,*

Abstract: Cultivated beets (Beta vulgaris ssp. vulgaris) are unable to form reproductive shoots during the first year of their life cycle. Flowering only occurs if plants get vernalized, that is, pass through the winter, and are subsequently exposed to an increasing day length (photoperiod) in spring. Here, we show that the regulation of flowering time in beets is controlled by the interplay of two paralogs of the FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT) gene in Arabidopsis that have evolved antagonistic functions. BvFT2 is functionally conserved with FT and essential for flowering. In contrast, BvFT1 represses flowering and its down-regulation is crucial for the vernalization response in beets. These data suggest that the beet has evolved a different strategy relative to Arabidopsis and cereals to regulate vernalization.

1 Umeå Plant Science Centre, Department of Forest Genetics and Plant Physiology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, 901-83 Umeå, Sweden.
2 Syngenta Seeds AB, Box 302, 261-23 Landskrona, Sweden.
3 Syngenta Seeds SAS, 12 Chemin de l’Hôbit, 31790 Saint-Sauveur, France.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: Ove.Nilsson{at}genfys.slu.se

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