The development of multicellular eukaryotes, according to their body plan, is often directed by members of multigene families that encode transcription factors. MADS (for MINICHROMOSOME MAINTENANCE1, AGAMOUS, DEFICIENS and SERUM RESPONSE FACTOR)-box genes form one of those families controlling nearly all major aspects of plant development. Knowing the complete complement of MADS-box genes in se...

The MADS-box genes of land plants are extensively diverged to form a superfamily and are important in various aspects of development including the specification of floral organs as homeotic selector genes. The closest relatives of land plants are the freshwater green algae charophyceans. To study the origin and evolution of land plant MADS-box genes, we characterized these genes in three charop...

Members of the MADS box gene family play important roles in flower development from the early step of determining the identity of floral meristems to specifying the identity of floral organ primordia later in flower development. We describe here the isolation and characterization of six additional members of this family, increasing the number of reported Arabidopsis MADS box genes to 17. All 11...

MADS-box transcription factors play significant roles in plant developmental processes such as floral organ conformation, flowering time, and fruit development. Pear (Pyrus), as the third-most crucial temperate fruit crop, has been fully sequenced. However, there is limited information about the MADS family and its functional divergence in pear. In this study, a total of 95 MADS-box genes were ...

In flowering plants, arguably the most significant transcription factors regulating development are MADS-domain proteins, encoded by Type I and Type II MADS-box genes. Type II genes are divided into the MIKC(C) and MIKC* groups. In angiosperms, these types and groups play distinct roles in the development of female gametophytes, embryos, and seeds (Type I); vegetative and floral tissues in spor...

We have initiated a systematic functional analysis of the MADS box, intervening region, K domain, C domain-type MADS box gene family in petunia. The starting point for this has been a reverse-genetics approach, aiming to select for transposon insertions into any MADS box gene. We have developed and applied a family signature insertion screening protocol that is highly suited for this purpose, r...

Three MADS-box genes were identified from a cDNA library derived from young flowers of Eucalyptus grandis W. Hill ex Maiden. The three egm genes are single-copy genes and are expressed almost exclusively in flowers. The egm1 and egm3 genes shared strongest homology with other plant MADS-box genes, which mediate between the floral meristem and the organ-identity genes. The egm3 gene was also exp...

Saururus chinensis is a core member of Saururaceae, a perianthless (lacking petals or sepals) family. Due to its basal phylogenetic position and unusual floral composition, study of this plant family is important for understanding the origin and evolution of perianthless flowers and petaloid bracts among angiosperm species. To isolate genes involved in S. chinensis flower development, subtracte...

We isolated and characterized two ovule-specific MADS box cDNAs from petunia, designated floral binding protein (fbp) genes 7 and 11. The putative protein products of these genes have -90% of their overall amino acid sequence in common. In situ RNA hybridization experiments revealed that both genes are expressed in the center of the developing gynoecium before ovule primordia are visible. At la...