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Plants Unpack Winter Coats When Days Get Shorter

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Mechanisms that protect plants from freezing are placed in storage during the summer and wisely unpacked when days get shorter.

In the current issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Michael Thomashow, University Distinguished Professor of molecular genetics, demonstrates how the CBF (C-repeat binding factor) cold response pathway is inactive during warmer months when days are long, and how it’s triggered by waning sunlight to prepare plants for freezing temperatures. (more…)

Circadian Rhythms Spark Plants’ Ability to Survive Freezing Weather

By Guest PostApril 14, 2011Scienceabiotic stresses, agbioresearch, bioenergy crops, circadian clock, circadian cues, circadian rhythms, eva farré, freezing weather, malia dong, michael thomashow, microbes, molecular genetics, monarch butterflies, national academy of sciences, renewal biofuels, spark plants

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Just as monarch butterflies depend on circadian cues to begin their annual migration, so do plants to survive freezing temperatures.

All living things – humans, animals, plants, microbes – are influenced by circadian rhythms, which are physical, mental and behavioral changes that follow a 24-hour cycle. In the current issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Michael Thomashow, University Distinguished Professor of molecular genetics, along with MSU colleagues Malia Dong and Eva Farré, has identified that the circadian clock provides key input required for plants to attain maximum freezing tolerance. (more…)

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Plants Unpack Winter Coats When Days Get Shorter

Circadian Rhythms Spark Plants’ Ability to Survive Freezing Weather