Abstract Detail

Plant development and evolution: Lessons learned from candidate genes

Sollinger, John D. [1], Singer, Susan R. [2].

PIM, a Pea Ortholog of AP1, Reduces a Triad of Stems to a Simple Flower while Buffering against Environmental and Genetic Distracters.

Proliferating inflorescence meristem (PIM) focuses developmental events upon reproduction in lieu of extended axial growth. Without PIM function, as seen in the pim-1 null mutant, a complex system of high-order stems displaces the typically third-order papilinoid flower. Developmental progression becomes rudderless. Stems and organs of mixed identity arise, thereby blurring the partition between stem types. How development unfolds depends upon the context (e.g., photoperiod, temperature and genotype). However, despite substantial plasticity, all paths invariably produce an ordered triad of stems composed of a central stem with a pair of subtending, bracteated axillaries of mirrored position and fate. Stems proliferate by reiterating the triad pattern indefinitely until they terminate as stubs or carpels. This inordinate extension of the inflorescence is foreign to all but the basal-most legumes.

1 - Southern Oregon University, Biology, 1250 Siskiyou Blvd, Ashland, Oregon, 97520, USA
2 - Carleton College, Biology, Onc College St., Northfield, Minnesota, 55057, USA

Keywords:
inflorescence
flowering
phenotypic plasticity
Fabaceae
pea
evo-devo.

Presentation Type: Symposium
Session: 54-7
Location: Ballroom 1 (Cliff Lodge)
Date: Wednesday, August 4th, 2004
Time: 3:30 PM
Abstract ID:604