Abiotic and biotic factors regulate the timing of floral induction: a review

Abstract

AbstractTime of flowering is an important phenomenon which ensures reproductive success and better adaptability to various environmental conditions. There are a few proteins that function as master regulators of flowering. The expression of these proteins highly depends on many extrinsic and intrinsic factors along with several biotic components. Further, alterations in these factors result in drastic changes in the transition from the vegetative to the reproductive phase that ultimately results in yield loss. Different abiotic stresses, such as drought, salinity, cold, heat, nutrient scarcity, sugar availability and exogenous chemicals, collectively affect the whole ambit of the floral induction process. Nevertheless, biotic stresses like bacterial (Pseudomonas syringae) and fungal (Fusarium oxysporum) infections promote the expression of the FT gene, which further accelerates the flowering phenomenon. Soil‐dwelling microorganisms, herbivores, pollinators and a few endophytes are associated with the promotion of flowering. Although plants have adapted several strategies to cope with the stress conditions and manage to maintain their reproductive physiology, it is noteworthy that flowering in plants under stress conditions shows species‐specific response patterns by accelerating or retarding the floral induction. Several transcription factors and some miRNAs were also involved in the regulation of flowering under stress conditions. In this review, we have summarised the different biotic and abiotic stresses that affect the flowering time and also include several strategies that plants adapt to escape the stress condition.