Floral induction and development

Group Leaders
Soraya Pelaz
ICREA Research Professor
Group Members
Floral induction and development group

Postdoctoral Researchers

PhD Students

Overview

Plants are sessile organisms and quite often suffer inclement weather. However, they maximize their chances of survival because of their ability to reprogram their development in response to environmental changes. As plant reproduction is crucial for species survival, flowering, which is a key adaptive process, deserves a deeper study in response to environmental stresses. Our goal is to elucidate how plants maximize their chances to survive adversities by reprogramming their development and their flowering time for adaptation to environmental changes. In this regard, we identified the TEMPRANILLO1 (TEM1) and TEM2 genes as key repressors of flowering, being involved in the different genetic pathways that control floral induction in Arabidopsis, and play a key role in adapting flowering time to several abiotic stresses. Our aim is to dissect the mechanisms and genetic networks involved in this adaptive process in Arabidopsis and rice. In order to unravel new insights into environment adaptation, we also adopted an evolutionary developmental, evo-devo, approach which may help to deal with the undesired effects of global warming. 

Selected Publications

Harold Suárez-Baron, Juan F Alzate, Barbara A Ambrose, Soraya Pelaz, Favio González and Natalia Pabón-Mora
Comparative morphoanatomy and transcriptomic analyses reveal key factors controlling floral trichome development in Aristolochia (Aristolochiaceae).
(2023) JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BOTANY, DOI: 10.1093/jxb/erad345.

Ata Dejahang, Naeimeh Maghsoudi, Amir Mousavi, Nader Farsad-Akhtar, Luis Matias-Hernandez, Soraya Pelaz, Kevin Folta and Nasser Mahna.
TEMPRANILLO homologs in apple regulate flowering time in the woodland strawberry Fragaria vesca.
(2023) SCIENTIFIC REPORTS, 13: 1968-1980.

Michela Osnato*, Ignacio Cota, Poonam Nebhnani and Soraya Pelaz*.
Photoperiod control of plant growth: Flowering time genes beyond flowering.
(2022) FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE, 9:12. DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2021.805635.

Michela Osnato, Unai Cereijo, Jan Sala, Luis Matías-Hernández, Andrea E. Aguilar-Jaramillo, María Rosa Rodríguez-Goberna, José Luis Riechmann, Manuel Rodríguez-Concepción and Soraya Pelaz.
The floral repressors TEMPRANILLO1 and 2 modulate salt tolerance by regulating hormonal components and photo-protection in Arabidopsis.
(2021) THE PLANT JOURNAL, 105, 7-21.

Harold Suárez-Baron, Juan F Alzate, Favio González, Soraya Pelaz, Barbara A Ambrose and Natalia Pabón-Mora.
Gene expression underlying floral epidermal specialization in Aristolochia fimbriata (Aristolochiaceae).
(2021) ANNALS OF BOTANY, 127, 749-764.

Osnato, M., Matías-Hernández, L., Aguilar-Jaramillo, A.E., Kater, M.M., Pelaz, S.
Genes of the RAV family control heading date and carpel development in rice
(2020) Plant Physiology, vol. 183 (4), pp. 1663-1680.

Aguilar-Jaramillo, A.E., Marín-González, E., Matías-Hernández, L., Osnato, M., Pelaz, S.*, Suárez-López, P.* 
TEMPRANILLO is a direct repressor of the microRNA miR172
(2019) Plant Journal, vol. 100 (3), pp. 522-535.

Matías-Hernández, L., Jiang, W., Yang, K., Tang, K., Brodelius, P.E., Pelaz, S.
AaMYB1 and its orthologue AtMYB61 affect terpene metabolism and trichome development in Artemisia annua and Arabidopsis thaliana
(2017) Plant Journal, vol. 90 (3), pp. 520-534

Matías-Hernández, L., Aguilar-Jaramillo, A.E., Osnato, M., Weinstain, R., Shani, E., Suárez-López, P., Pelaz, S.
TEMPRANILLO reveals the mesophyll as crucial for epidermal trichome formation
(2016) Plant Physiology, vol. 170 (3), pp. 1624-1639

Marín-González, E., Matías-Hernández, L., Aguilar-Jaramillo, A.E., Lee, J.H., Ahn, J.H., Suárez-López, P., Pelaz, S.
SHORT VEGETATIVE PHASE up-regulates TEMPRANILLO2 floral repressor at low ambient temperatures
(2015) Plant Physiology, vol. 169 (2), pp. 1214-1224

Matías-Hernández, L., Aguilar-Jaramillo, A.E., Marín-González, E., Suárez-López, P., Pelaz, S.
RAV genes: Regulation of floral induction and beyond
(2014) Annals of Botany, vol. 114 (7), pp. 1459-1470

Romera-Branchat, M., Ripoll, J.J., Yanofsky, M.F., Pelaz, S.
The WOX13 homeobox gene promotes replum formation in the Arabidopsis thaliana fruit
(2013) Plant Journal, vol. 73 (1), pp. 37-49

Osnato, M., Castillejo, C., Matías-Hernández, L., Pelaz, S.
TEMPRANILLO genes link photoperiod and gibberellin pathways to control flowering in Arabidopsis
(2012) Nature Communications, vol. 3, Art. number 808

Castillejo, C., Pelaz, S.
The Balance between CONSTANS and TEMPRANILLO Activities Determines FT Expression to Trigger Flowering
(2008) Current Biology, vol. 18 (17), pp. 1338-1343