Genetic architecture of flowering-time control in Brachypodium distachyon

Controlling the timing to flowering is an essential aspect of agriculture, either by delaying flowering to maximize storage in root crops or by initiating flowering when conditions are favorable to maximize seed or fruit production. The extensive studies carried out on the model Brassicaceae Arabidopsis thaliana revealed dozens of genes whose mutation alters flowering time (Bouché et al., 2016). Comparatively, relatively little is known about the genetic mechanisms controlling flowering in Pooideae, a group of grasses that includes important crops such as wheat, barley, and oat. In recent years, Brachypodium distachyon—a small diploid grass from the Pooideae group—has been increasingly used as a model plant to study the genetic mechanisms controlling developmental processes in temperate grasses. In our lab, we combine forward and reverse genetic approaches to identify and characterize new genes controlling the timing of flowering in Brachypodium distachyon.