The inflorescence of flowering plants is a highly organized structure, not only contributing to plant reproductive processes, but also constituting an important part of the entire plant morphology. Previous studies have revealed that the class-I KNOTTED1-like homeobox (KNOX) genes BREVIPEDICELLUS (BP or KNAT1), KNAT2, and KNAT6 play essential roles in inflorescence architecture. Pedicel morphol...

In grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.), the lateral meristem can give rise to either tendrils or inflorescences which are determined organs. To get insights into the processes of tendril and inflorescence development, we characterized the transcriptional variation taking place in both organs. The results of the global transcriptional analyses along tendril and inflorescence development suggested that...

Flowering plants display a remarkable range of inflorescence architecture, and pedicel characteristics are one of the key contributors to this diversity. However, very little is known about the genes or the pathways that regulate pedicel development. The brevipedicellus (bp) mutant of Arabidopsis thaliana displays a unique phenotype with defects in pedicel development causing downward-pointing ...

Onion (Allium cepa L.) is one of the important vegetable crops in the world, usually with a two-year life cycle. The bulbs form in the first year after sowing, then bolting and flowering are induced by low temperature in the following year. Previous studies have shown that LEAFY gene is an inflorescence tissue specific gene, and that it is also the ultimate collection channel of all flowering p...

APETALA1 (AP1) encodes a key MADS-box transcription factor that specifies the floral meristem identity on the flank of the inflorescence meristem, and determines the identity of perianth floral organs in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. Orchids are members of the Orchidaceae, one of the largest families of angiosperms. Although the expression patterns of a few AP1-like genes in orchids hav...

Vegetative and reproductive phases alternate regularly during sympodial growth in tomato. In wild-type 'indeterminate' plants, inflorescences are separated by three vegetative nodes. In 'determinate' plants homozygous for the recessive allele of the SELF-PRUNING (SP) gene, sympodial segments develop progressively fewer nodes until the shoot is terminated by two consecutive inflorescences. We sh...

Responses to prolonged low-temperature treatment of imbibed seeds (vernalization) were examined in barley (Hordeum vulgare). These occurred in two phases: the perception of prolonged cold, which occurred gradually at low temperatures, and the acceleration of reproductive development, which occurred after vernalization. Expression of the VERNALIZATION1 gene (HvVRN1) increased gradually in germin...

Mitochondrial pyruvate dehydrogenase (mtPDH) is a key respiratory enzyme that links glycolysis and the tricarboxylic acid cycle, and it is negatively regulated by mtPDH kinase (mtPDHK). Arabidopsis lines carrying either a constitutive or seed-specific antisense construct for mtPDHK were used to test the hypothesis that alteration of mtPDH activity in a tissue- and dosage-dependent manner will e...

Mutation of the SCARECROW (SCR) gene results in a radial pattern defect, loss of a ground tissue layer, in the root. Analysis of the shoot phenotype of scr mutants revealed that both hypocotyl and shoot inflorescence also have a radial pattern defect, loss of a normal starch sheath layer, and consequently are unable to sense gravity in the shoot. Analogous to its expression in the endodermis of...

The genetic basis of floral symmetry is a topic of great interest because of its effect on pollinator behavior and, consequently, plant diversification. The Asteraceae, which is the largest family of flowering plants, is an ideal system in which to study this trait, as many species within the family exhibit a compound inflorescence containing both bilaterally symmetric (i.e., zygomorphic) and r...