A paper published in Trends in Plant Science, and cover story of the April 2018 issue, summarizes the scientific routes that led the Mantovani and Fornara groups to define some important mechanisms necessary for plant reproduction.

Spring is the season we all associate to flowers and blooming. For plants, flowers are fundamental organs, necessary to produce seeds. But how do plants know when the right time is, to produce flowers?

Plants have developed sophisticated mechanisms to measure seasonal time, and flower at the most appropriate time of the year. During the last few years, our research has defined some of the most important molecular mechanisms required for time measurement and flower production. Using distinct plant species, adapted to different environments and evolutionarily distant, we could also appreciate how such mechanisms are often common. Thus, a basal regulatory system must exist that can be readjusted in species adapted to different environments.