The Floral Bottleneck in a Changing Climate: Molecular Mechanisms, Knowledge Gaps, and Future Directions

Flowers, the reproductive frontline of plants, are highly sensitive to environmental stresses. Yet, despite their ecological and agricultural importance, the molecular regulation of stress responses in flowers remains comparatively limited. In this context, this review emphasizes how integrative, flower-centered research combining molecular, physiological, and ecological perspectives is essential to safeguard fertility, crop yields, and biodiversity under increasingly variable climates. Advances in single-cell and spatial omics, high-resolution phenotyping, and genome and epigenome editing have the power to unprecedentedly reveal how flowers detect, decode, and respond to environmental stress. By reframing flowers as dynamic molecular decision points rather than passive stress factors, this review outlines a roadmap for flower-centered climate resilience research.