Timing of the floral transition and inflorescence development strongly affect yield in barley (Hordeum vulgare). Therefore, we examined the effects of daylength and the photoperiod response gene PHOTOPERIOD1 (Ppd-H1) on barley development and analyzed gene expression changes in the developing leaves and main shoot apices (MSAs) of barley by RNA sequencing. The daylength sensitivity of MSA devel...

Vascular cambium, a type of lateral meristem, is the source of secondary xylem and secondary phloem, but little is known about the molecular mechanisms of its formation and development. Here, we report the characterization of an Arabidopsis thaliana gain-of-function mutant with dramatically increased cambial activity, designated high cambial activity2 (hca2). The hca2 mutant has no alternative ...

As a plant shoot matures, it transitions through a series of growth phases in which successive aerial organs undergo distinct developmental changes. This process of phase change is known to be influenced by gibberellins (GAs). We report the identification of a putative transcription factor, GLABROUS INFLORESCENCE STEMS (GIS), which regulates aspects of shoot maturation in Arabidopsis thaliana. ...

Differential organ growth during gravitropic response is caused by differential accumulation of auxin, that is, relative higher auxin concentration in lower flanks than in upper flanks of responding organs. Auxin responsive reporter systems such as DR5::GUS and DR5::GFP have usually been used as indicators of gravitropic response in roots and hypocotyls of Arabidopsis. However, in the infloresc...

BACKGROUND Pollination has a great effect on the yield of fruit trees. Blow flies are considered as an effective pollinator compared to hand pollination in fruit orchards. Therefore, this study was designed to evaluate the effect of different pollination methods in mango orchards. METHODOLOGY The impact of pollination on quantity and quality of mango yield by blow flies was estimated by using...

The objective of this study was to determine the appropriate growth stage of inflorescence (spathe) explants among different cultivars of the date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) and to define the optimum period of incubation on high-auxin medium. Inflorescence explants were excised from seven Pakistani cvs. at different growth stages and cultured on a basal MS medium containing 100 mg l 2,4-D fo...

Reproductive success (RS) in orchids in general, and in non-rewarding species specifically, is extremely low. RS is pollinator and pollination limited in food deceptive orchids, but this has rarely been studied in sexually deceptive orchid species. Here, we tested the effects of several individual (plant height, inflorescence size, nearest neighbour distance and flower position) and population ...

The Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) compact inflorescence (cif) genotype causes altered adult vegetative development and a reduction in elongation of inflorescence internodes resulting in formation of floral clusters. The cif trait requires both a recessive mutation, cif1, and the activity of a naturally occurring dominant allele of an unlinked gene, CIF2(D). We show here that the pseudovert...

Development in higher plants depends on the activity of meristems, formative regions that continuously initiate new organs at their flanks. Meristems must maintain a balance between stem cell renewal and organ initiation. In fasciated mutants, organ initiation fails to keep pace with meristem proliferation. The thick tassel dwarf1 (td1) mutation of maize affects both male and female inflorescen...

We present the initial phenotypic characterization of an Arabidopsis mutation, terminal flower 1-1 (tfl1-1), that identifies a new genetic locus, TFL1. The tfl1-1 mutation causes early flowering and limits the development of the normally indeterminate inflorescence by promoting the formation of a terminal floral meristem. Inflorescence development in mutant plants often terminates with a compou...