Our research interests focus on the genetic, molecular and biochemical understandings of plant development through plant-environment interactions. We are particularly interested in the epigenetic regulation of the floral transition by environmental cues, such as temperature and photoperiod. The prolonged cold of winter, known as vernalization, is one such cue that certain plants use to acquire competence to flower the following spring. In Arabidopsis, vernalization results in the mitotically stable repression of the potent floral repressor, FLOWERING LOCUS C (FLC). The molecular nature of this environmentally-induced epigenetic change has been a fascinating question in plant biology. We have shown that the series of Histone modifications are involved in the epigenetic repression of FLC by vernalization. Furthermore, the diversity of Histone modifications that are related with vernalization-mediated epigenetic changes suggests that FLC chromatin could be used for the model system to study Histone biology in plants. We would like to use this environmentally-induced epigenetic switch as a model system to study chromatin remodeling in eukaryotes.
