Flower Development

The transformation of a small group of pluripotent floral stem cells into a flower, with a characteristic arrangement of different organ types, is a complex process involving coordinated cellular behaviors and broad morphogenetic changes. This process begins with the initiation of a flower primordium in the peripheral region of the dome-shaped shoot apical meristem. After initiation, the flower primordium enlarges and sequentially gives rise to floral organ primordia at spatially defined positions. The floral organ primordia proceed to differentiate into sepals, petals, stamens or carpels in response to the region-specific activities of four classes of floral homeotic genes. While much is known about the specification of floral organ identity, much less is known about the molecular mechanisms that regulate floral organ initiation and coordinate cell division, growth and differentiation during organogenesis of sepals, petals, stamens and carpels. My lab has identified members of the AINTEGUMENTA-LIKE/PLETHORA (AIL/PLT) transcription factor family as important regulators of these processes. For example, we have found that ANT and AIL6 regulate multiple aspects of floral organogenesis including floral organ positioning, growth, identity and patterning. We are characterizing the functions of AIL genes in flower and meristem development and identifying targets of these transcription factors to better under their roles in development.