We are interested in the characterization of mobile internal signals controlling flowering in plants. We have used Arabidopsis thaliana to characterize metabolic changes associated with floral transition by using a metabolomics and lipidomics approach. These approaches have identified a number of metabolic pathways that are altered in plants that undergo floral transition compared to those that remain in a vegetative phase. We are currently investigating the contribution of those pathways to the control of flowering time in Arabidopsis and exploring the possibility that these represent conserved pathways that are important for the control of this trait in cultivated species. This study has been complemented with a transcriptomic analysis which shows which genes regulating those metabolic pathways increase or decrease their expression level during floral transition.

The integration of metabolic, lipidomic and transcriptomic data has provided us with a robust set of information to unravel new layers of complexity in the control of flowering. Recently, we have also developed a quantitative proteomics approach to identify phloem specific proteins and peptides that could represent mobiles signals controlling not only flowering but also other developmental processes. We have already identified more than 100 phloem proteins and we are characterizing their function and their potential role as developmental regulators.

Research and experimental development on biotechnology