Seminar
Speaker:
Steven Penfield
John Innes Centre UK
Title Parenting for plants: a manual for the successful control of progeny seed behaviour for mothers
Host: Maria Eriksson
Place: Lilla hörsalen, KB3A9
Abstract:
In humans we understand that fitness is about more than just progeny yield, but also about parental optimisation of progeny behaviour. But what about plants where little is known about the influence of parents on progeny attributes beyond a shared genetic heritage? In this talk I will discuss how dynamic environmental signalling processes in the mother plant are used to generate trans-generational information flows that control offspring behaviour and permit coordination of plant life history by seasonal cues. I will show that seasonal detection pathways converging on Flowering Locus T play a key role in this process and in so doing reveal why flowering time control is important for plant fitness.