Functional genomics of flowering time in trees

Genomics of floral induction and flower development in trees is much more complex than in annual/biennial herbaceous plants. Detailed genetic models explaining different steps of these developmental processes already exist in model plants like Arabidopsis thaliana and Antirrhinum majus. Most of this basic knowledge can be easily applied to many annual/biennial angiosperm plants and, at least in part, to perennial, polycarpic plants such as trees. The transfer of knowledge from the annual to perennial plants and from model plants to economically important crops such as fruit and forest trees is currently underway. A number of major traits have been mapped in different tree species, and individual flowering gene homologues have been isolated and functionally characterized. The establishment of methods for reverse genetics studies and the development of next-generation sequencing technologies were milestones which lead to an acceleration in this field of research. The identification of candidate genes will thereby be dramatically accelerated by the availability of entire genome sequences of different tree species. The functional characterization of such candidate genes will help to complete the picture on genetics of flowering in trees bit by bit.