Plants residing in temperate and boreal regions undergo annual activity-dormancy cycles in order to cope with the extreme variations in climate that accompany changes in seasons. Photoperiod and temperature signals act as the key environmental cues controlling growth cessation and dormancy.

Maurya and Bhalerao highlight data indicating that symplastic communication may mediate certain aspects of seasonal growth; the results point to a high level of conservation in the signalling pathways that mediate photoperiodic control of seasonal growth in trees and flowering in annual plants such as Arabidopsis. This review article suggests that the future challenge is extending these insights into the control of phenology in model plants such as poplar and spruce by applying a similar framework to other, non-model trees.