13 14 • Population divergence in early development may lead to hybrid developmental failure and 15 inviability, and may be a factor driving speciation in flowering plants. 16 • We investigate the pattern of early and late embryo and endosperm development of seed 17 from Mimulus guttatus and the closely related, serpentine endemic M. nudatus, and compare 18 it to that of hybrid seed derived from...

Tree reproductive structures-pollen and seed cones, or microand mega­ sporangia-represent an extremely rich source of food for many animals (166). Although some species exploit pollen cones (189), in this review we deal exclusively with those exploiting seed cones prior to seed dispersal. Insects are considered the most important seed predators during the predispersal phase of seed development ...

The nature of weeds is a complex adaptive, soil-seed communication system. The nature of weedy Setaria life history is an adaptable, changeable system in which complex behaviors emerge when self-similar plant components self-organize into functional traits possessing biological information about spatial structure and temporal behavior. The nature of the weedy Setaria is revealed in the physical...

The fruit of the prickly pear cactus (“Tuna blanca”, Opuntia amyclaea) has a sweet juicy pulp containing numerous hard-coated seeds, which limit the overall acceptability of the fruit. This study extended previous attempts to develop prickly pear fruits with reduced or smaller seed structures by applying gibberellic acid to floral buds. Solutions of gibberellic acid (GA3) were applied by sprayi...

Seed development in plants involves the coordinated growth of the embryo, endosperm, and maternal tissue. Several genes have been identified that influence seed size by acting maternally, such as AUXIN RESPONSE FACTOR2, APETALA2, and DA1. However, given the lack of gain-of-function effects of these genes on seed size, it is unclear whether their activity levels are limiting in WT plants and whe...

Seed size is a major determinant of seed yield but few is known about the genetics controlling of seed size in plants. Phytohormones cytokinin and brassinosteroid were known to be involved in the regulation of herbaceous plant seed development. Here we identified a homolog of Auxin Response Factor 19 (JcARF19) from a woody plant Jatropha curcas and genetically demonstrated its functions in cont...

SEED is the most important input component for productive agriculture. In the significant advances that India made in agriculture in the last four decades, the role of the seed sector has been substantial. The expansion of seed industry has occurred in parallel with growth in agricultural productivity. Given the fact that sustained growth to cope with increasing demand would depend more and mor...

Seed development is an important process of reproductive development and consists of embryo and endosperm development; both comprise several key processes. To determine and investigate the functions of the dynamic DNA methylome during seed development, we profiled the DNA methylation genome wide in a series of developmental stages of rice (Oryza sativa) embryo and endosperm by methylcytosine im...

Each cotton fiber is a single-celled seed trichome or hair, and over 20,000 fibers may develop semi-synchronously on each seed. The molecular basis for seed hair development is unknown but is likely to share many similarities with leaf trichome development in Arabidopsis. Leaf trichome initiation in Arabidopsis thaliana is activated by GLABROUS1 (GL1) that is negatively regulated by TRIPTYCHON ...

During the early stages of seed development, Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) endosperm is syncytial and proliferates rapidly through repeated rounds of mitosis without cytokinesis. This stage of endosperm development is important in determining final seed size and is a model for studying aspects of cellular and molecular biology, such as the cell cycle and genomic imprinting. However, the sm...