Plants distinguish different photoperiods to independently control seasonal flowering and growth. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38330117/)

These scientists wanted to understand how plants know when it's time to grow and flower. They already knew that plants use the length of daylight to decide when to flower, but they didn't know much about how plants use daylight to regulate their growth.

To figure this out, the scientists studied a special kind of plant that had problems with its growth when the days were long. They found that this plant had a different way of measuring the length of daylight for growth compared to flowering.

For flowering, the plant measured how long the light was on during the day. But for growth, the plant measured how long it could do photosynthesis, which is when it makes food from sunlight.

Surprisingly, the scientists discovered that the plant could control the genes needed for flowering and growth separately. This means that the plant can decide when to grow and when to flower independently, depending on the season.

This study shows that plants can regulate their growth and flowering separately, which helps them adapt to different seasons.

Wang Q., Liu W., Leung CC., Tarte DA., Gendron JM. Plants distinguish different photoperiods to independently control seasonal flowering and growth. Science. 2024 Feb 9;383(6683):eadg9196. doi: 10.1126/science.adg9196. Epub 2024 Feb 9.