Architecture of floral branch systems in maize and related grasses

Erik Vollbrecht, Patricia S. Springer, Lindee Goh, Edward S. Buckler Iv and Robert Martienssen ()
Additional contact information
Erik Vollbrecht: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Patricia S. Springer: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Lindee Goh: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Edward S. Buckler Iv: Cornell University
Robert Martienssen: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

Nature, 2005, vol. 436, issue 7054, 1119-1126

Abstract: Abstract The external appearance of flowering plants is determined to a large extent by the forms of flower-bearing branch systems, known as inflorescences, and their position in the overall structure of the plant. Branches and branching patterns are produced by tissues called shoot apical meristems. Thus, inflorescence architecture reflects meristem number, arrangement and activity, and the duration of meristem activity correlates with branch length. The inflorescences of maize, unlike those of related grasses such as rice and sorghum, predominantly lack long branches, giving rise to the tassel and familiar corncob. Here we report the isolation of the maize ramosa1 gene and show that it controls inflorescence architecture. Through its expression in a boundary domain near the nascent meristem base, ramosa1 imposes short branch identity as branch meristems are initiated. A second gene, ramosa2, acts through ramosa1 by regulating ramosa1 gene expression levels. ramosa1 encodes a transcription factor that appears to be absent in rice, is heterochronically expressed in sorghum, and may have played an important role in maize domestication and grass evolution.

Date: 2005
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/nature03892 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:436:y:2005:i:7054:d:10.1038_nature03892

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/nature03892

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().