Molecular Basis of Age-Dependent Vernalization in <i>Cardamine flexuosa</i>

<jats:title>Multiple Inputs to Flowering</jats:title> <jats:p> Perennial plants need to cycle through an extended vegetative phase, in a process known as vernalization, before they initiate flowering. <jats:bold> Bergonzi <jats:italic>et al.</jats:italic> </jats:bold> (p. <jats:related-article xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" ext-link-type="doi" issue="6136" page="1094" related-article-type="in-this-issue" vol="340" xlink:href="10.1126/science.1234116">1094</jats:related-article> ) and <jats:bold> Zhou <jats:italic>et al.</jats:italic> </jats:bold> (p. <jats:related-article xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" ext-link-type="doi" issue="6136" page="1097" related-article-type="in-this-issue" vol="340" xlink:href="10.1126/science.1234340">1097</jats:related-article> ) studied how molecular signals translate environmental information—such as exposure to a winter season or changes in daylength and physiological information, such as age of the plant—into signals that promote flowering. In both <jats:italic>Arabis alpina</jats:italic> and <jats:italic>Cardamine flexuosa</jats:italic> , age and vernalization pathways are integrated through the regulation of microRNAs miR156 and miR172. </jats:p>