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Sensitivity to long days for flowering is reduced in Arabidopsis by yearly variation in growing season temperatures
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  • Siri Fjellheim,
  • Hannah Kinmonth-Schultz,
  • Jørn H. Sønstebø,
  • Andrew J. Croneberger,
  • Sylvia S. Johnsen,
  • Erica Leder,
  • Anna Lewandowska-Sabat,
  • Takato Imaizumi,
  • Odd Arne Rognli,
  • Hilde Vinje,
  • Joy K. Ward
Siri Fjellheim
Norges miljo- og biovitenskapelige universitet

Corresponding Author:siri.fjellheim@nmbu.no

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Hannah Kinmonth-Schultz
University of Kansas Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
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Jørn H. Sønstebø
Universitetet i Sorost-Norge Fakultet for teknologi naturvitenskap og maritime fag
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Andrew J. Croneberger
University of Washington Department of Biology
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Sylvia S. Johnsen
Norges miljo- og biovitenskapelige universitet
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Erica Leder
Goteborgs universitet Marina infrastrukturen
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Anna Lewandowska-Sabat
Norges miljo- og biovitenskapelige universitet
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Takato Imaizumi
University of Washington Department of Biology
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Odd Arne Rognli
Norges miljo- og biovitenskapelige universitet
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Hilde Vinje
Norges miljo- og biovitenskapelige universitet
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Joy K. Ward
Case Western Reserve College of Arts and Science
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Abstract

Conservative flowering behaviors, such as flowering during long days in summer or late flowering at a high leaf number, are often proposed to protect against variable winter and spring temperatures which lead to frost damage if premature flowering occurs. Yet, due the many factors in natural environments relative to the number of individuals compared, assessing which climate characteristics drive these flowering traits has been difficult. We applied a multidisciplinary approach to ten winter-annual Arabidopsis thaliana populations originating along a wide climactic gradient in Norway. We used a variable reduction strategy to assess which of 100 climate descriptors from their home sites correlated most to their behaviors when grown in common garden and assessed sequence variation of 19 known environmental-response flowering genes. Photoperiod sensitivity inversely correlated with interannual variation in timing of growing season onset (start of favorable spring temperatures). Time to flowering appeared driven by growing season length, curtailed by cold fall temperatures. The distribution of FLM, TFL2, and HOS1 haplotypes, genes involved in ambient temperature response, correlated with growing-season climate. We show that long-day sensitivity and late flowering may be driven not by risk of spring frosts, but by growing season temperature and length perhaps to opportunistically maximize growth.
02 Nov 2022Submitted to Plant, Cell & Environment
02 Nov 2022Submission Checks Completed
02 Nov 2022Assigned to Editor
06 Nov 2022Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
08 Nov 2022Reviewer(s) Assigned
15 Jan 2023Editorial Decision: Revise Minor
14 Feb 20231st Revision Received
14 Feb 2023Submission Checks Completed
14 Feb 2023Assigned to Editor
17 Feb 2023Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
22 Feb 2023Reviewer(s) Assigned
22 Mar 2023Editorial Decision: Revise Minor
09 May 20232nd Revision Received
09 May 2023Submission Checks Completed
09 May 2023Assigned to Editor
14 May 2023Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
15 May 2023Editorial Decision: Accept