Multiple Roles of Arabidopsis VRN1 in Vernalization and Flowering Time Control

Arabidopsis VRN genes mediate vernalization, the process by which a long period of cold induces a mitotically stable state that leads to accelerated flowering during later development. VRN1 encodes a protein that binds DNA in vitro in a non–sequence-specific manner and functions in stable repression of the major target of the vernalization pathway, the floral repressor FLC . Overexpression of VRN1 reveals a vernalization-independent function for VRN1 , mediated predominantly through the floral pathway integrator FT , and demonstrates that VRN1 requires vernalization-specific factors to target FLC .