Distinct roles of gigantea in promoting flowering and regulating circadian rhythms in arabidopsis

The circadian clock acts as the timekeeping mechanism in photoperiodism. In Arabidopsis thaliana, a circadian clock controlled flowering pathway comprising the genes GIGANTEA (GI), CONSTANS (CO), and FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT) promotes flowering specifically under long days. Within this pathway, GI regulates circadian rhythms and flowering and acts earlier in the hierarchy than CO and FT, suggesting that GI might regulate flowering indirectly by affecting the control of circadian rhythms. We studied the relationship between the roles of GI in flowering and the circadian clock using late elongated hypocotyl circadian clock associated1 double mutants, which are impaired in circadian clock function, plants overexpressing GI (35S:GI), and gi mutants. These experiments demonstrated that GI acts between the circadian oscillator and CO to promote flowering by increasing CO and FT mRNA abundanc