Similar genetic switch systems might integrate the floral inductive pathways in dicots and monocots

A recent paper by Million Tadege et A shows that a SOC1-like gene from rice, OsSOC1, can complement the Arabidopsis soc1 mutant, and that ectopic expression of the Arabidopsis floral repressor FLC in rice delays flowering and up-regulation of OsSOC1 These findings, together with the identification of the wheat vernalization VRN1 locus as an AP1 homologue, suggest that related genetic switch systems control floral transition in dicots and monocots but that they are based on different MADS-box transcription factors.