Description
FLOWERING LOCUS C (FLC) is a MADS box transcription factor that plays a well characterised role in repressing the vegetative to floral transition of Arabidopsis thaliana. FLC has also been shown to affect the Arabidopsis circadian clock, with mutant seedlings showing short circadian periods. In a previous study, we identified the temperature-dependent circadian period QTL PerCv5b near the FLC locus on the top arm of Chromosome 5. PerCv5b caused a significant period effect at 27oC but not at 12oC or 22oC. Temperature-dependent circadian period phenotypes and a known polymorphism in the Ler allele made FLC a strong candidate gene for PerCv5b. The period effect of FLC was enhanced by combination with alleles of FRIGIDA (FRI), a gene shown to up-regulate FLC's expression.