PERSPECTIVE ARTICLE published: 25 March 2014 doi: 10.3389/fpls.2014.00099 Memory of the vernalized state in plants including the model grass Brachypodium distachyon Daniel P.Woods1,2,3 ,Thomas S. Ream1,2 † and Richard M. Amasino1,2 * 1 Department of Biochemistry, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA 2 U.S. Department of Energy–Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA 3 Laboratory of Genetics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA Edited by: Plant species that have a vernalization requirement exhibit variation in the ability to George Coupland, Max Planck “remember” winter – i.e., variation in the stability of the vernalized state. Studies in Society, Germany Arabidopsis have demonstrated that molecular memory involves changes in the chromatin Reviewed by: state and expression of the flowering repressor FLOWERING LOCUS C, and have revealed Paula Casati, Centro de Estudios Fotosinteticos – Consejo Nacional de that single-gene differences can have large effects on the stability of the vernalized state. In Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, the perennial Arabidopsis relative Arabis alpina, the lack of memory of winter is critical for its Argentina perennial life history. Our studies of flowering behavior in the model grass Brachypodium Iain Robert Searle, The University of Adelaide, Australia distachyon reveal extensive variation in the vernalization requirement, and studies of a particular Brachypodium accession that has a qualitative requirement for both cold exposure *Correspondence: Richard M. Amasino, Department of and inductive day length to flower reveal that Brachypodium can exhibit a highly stable Biochemistry, University of vernalized state. Wisconsin-Madison, 433 Babcock Drive, Madison, WI 53706-1544, USA Keywords: vernalization, flowering, Brachypodium, epigenetics, life history e-mail:
[email protected] †Present address: Thomas S.