Role of methylation in vernalization and photoperiod pathway:a potential flowering regulator?

Recognized as a pivotal developmental transition,flowering marks the continuation of a plant’s life cycle.Vernalization and pho-toperiod are two major flowering pathways orchestrating numerous florigenic signals.Methylation,including histone,DNA and RNA methylation,is one of the recent foci in plant development.Considerable studies reveal that methylation seems to show an increasing potential regulatory role in plant flowering via altering relevant gene expression without altering the genetic basis.However,little has been reviewed about whether and how methylation acts on vernalization-and photoperiod-induced flowering before and after FLOWERING LOCUS C(FLC)reactivation,what role RNA methylation plays in vernalization-and photoperiod-induced flowering,how methylation participates simultaneously in both vernalization-and photoperiod-induced flowering,the heritability of methylation memory under the vernalization/photoperiod pathway,and whether and how methylation replaces vernalization/photoinduction to regulate flowering.Our review provides insight about the crosstalk among the genetic control of the flowering gene network,methylation(methyltransferases/demethylases)and external signals(cold,light,sRNA and phytohormones)in vernalization and photoperiod pathways.The existing evidence that RNA methylation may play a potential regulatory role in vernalization-and photoperiod-induced flowering has been gathered and represented for the first time.This review speculates about and discusses the possibility of substituting methylation for vernalization and photoinduction to promote flowering.Current evidence is utilized to discuss the possibility of future methylation reagents becoming flowering regulators at the molecular level.

The involvement of brassinolides in fruit ripening:crosstalk with plant growth regulators and transcription factors

Brassinolides(BRs)are a kind of endogenous plant hormone that play an important role in regulating fruit ripening.BRs can regulate the process of fruit ripening by interacting with plant growth regulators and transcription factors.In this review,we discuss recent research advances on the role of BRs in fruit ripening and its relation to plant growth regulators and transcription factors.In addition,BR signaling molecules that are involved in fruit ripening and ripening-related genes are also highlighted.This review provides a better theoretical basis for improving fruit quality and regulating fruit ripening to speed up market availability,and for studying the mechanisms of BRs in fruit ripening.