PhD defence
Finetuning flowering: roles and regulation of tomato SOC1 and FUL homologs
Summary
To bloom or not to bloom – that is the question. When a plant exactly starts flowering and how the inflorescences develop is of paramount importance to plants. Flowering determines their reproductive success and this is also relevant to agriculture, because flowers give rise to fruits and seeds for consumption. The genes SUPPRESSOR OF OVEREXPRESSION OF CONSTANS 1 (SOC1) and FRUITFULL (FUL) are important regulators of flowering in several plant species, but we know little about their functions in the agriculturally important crop tomato (Solanum lycopersicum). This thesis describes novel insights into the specific and shared functions of SOC1- and FUL-like genes during flowering in tomato, and the characterisation of two genomic regions that partly determine when, where and how strong these genes are active. These findings contribute to a fundamental understanding of flowering regulation and have applications in plant breeding to finetune flowering.