Molecular ecology of phenology: dynamics of flowering-time genes of perennial plants

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Any gene regulatory system has evolved in a natural habitat, and therefore the role of gene regulation should ultimately be understood in the natural environment. Without memory of past temperatures, it is difficult to detect seasons in natural noisy temperatures because temperature changes within a couple of weeks are often inconsistent with seasonal trends. Our 2-year census of expression of a key flowering gene, AhgFLC, revealed that this flowering--time gene extracts seasonal cues as if it memorizes temperatures over past 6 weeks. Our developed model accurately predicted the gene expressions in natural environments and will contribute to predicting the plant response to future climatic change.