Question

Many plant species are "winter annuals" - their seeds germinate in summer, and the plants grow vegetatively in fall and are dormant in winter. Many plants will not flower in spring unless they have experienced a long cold period (this process is called "vernalization". In the plant model organism Arabidopsis thaliana, vernalization is an epigenetically regulated phenomenon. The gene Flowering Locus C (FLC) encodes a transcriptional repressor that prevents expression of flowering genes. When the weather is warm, the histones in FLC are acetylated, but when temperatures drop, a histone deacetylase gradually removes the histones until, after an extended period of cold, the FLC gene is silenced. At this point, flowering genes begin to activate. If the weather one winter is unusually warm, such that there is no real extended period of cold, what is the expected result in terms of both FLC inactivation, and flowering?

Answer 1

Answer:

Given condition will lead to the Acetylation and activation of the FLC gene which will help in encoding the repressor protein and preventing the expression of Flowering Gene expression.

Explanation:

According to the question,

Extended cold weather → causes Histone deacetylation of the FLC gene.  

                                                ↓

When the FLC gene is deacetylated, this condition silences the FLC gene.  

                                                 ↓

The FLC gene encodes a repressor that prevents the expression of flowering genes. Silenced FLC gene won't be able to encode the repressor protein, therefore, the Flowering gene will be expressed.

 

If, the weather in winter is unusually warm then → the absence of extended cold temperature

                                                 ↓

Histone of the FLC gene will remain Acetylated thus the FLC gene will be activated.

                                                  ↓

Activated the FLC gene will encode the Repressor protein which will prevent the expression of the Flowering gene.

                                                    ↓

                                        No Blossom