Human m(6)A demethylase FTO modulates the flowering time of tomato plants under low-temperature stress.

Human FTO acts as an m6A demethylase in tomato, accelerating flowering by up to 50% under low-temperature stress conditions.

• Why it matters: Understanding how plants adapt flowering timing to environmental stresses like low temperature is crucial for improving crop resilience and yield stability amid climate change.
• What they did: Researchers expressed human FTO in tomato plants and analyzed flowering time, m6A levels, and gene expression changes using RT-qPCR, LC-MS/MS, and RNA stability assays under low-temperature and normal conditions.
• The result: FTO expression specifically promoted earlier flowering under low temperature, linked to decreased m6A in key transcripts and altered mRNA stability and splicing, revealing post-transcriptional regulation as a stress adaptation mechanism.