A MYB-domain protein EFM mediates flowering responses to environmental cues in Arabidopsis

Abstract

Plants adjust the timing of the transition to flowering to ensure their reproductive success in changing environments. Temperature and light are major environmental signals that affect flowering time through converging on the transcriptional regulation of FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT) encoding the florigen in Arabidopsis. Here, we show that a MYB transcription factor EARLY FLOWERING MYB PROTEIN (EFM) plays an important role in directly repressing FT expression in the leaf vasculature. EFM mediates the effect of ambient temperature on flowering and is directly promoted by another major FT repressor, SHORT VEGETATIVE PHASE. EFM interacts with an H3K36me2 demethylase JMJ30, which forms a negative feedback regulatory loop with the light-responsive circadian clock, to specifically demethylate an active mark H3K36me2 at FT. Our results suggest that EFM is an important convergence point that mediates plant responses to temperature and light to determine the timing of reproduction.