Development pp 167-183 | Cite as

Flower Development: Genetic Views and Molecular News

  • Brendan Davies
  • Hans Sommer
  • Zsuzsanna Schwarz-Sommer
Chapter

Abstract

Plant development can be divided into two phases; a vegetative and a reproductive phase. During the vegetative phase the main shoot grows and produces leaves and further side shoots, known as lateral shoots. As the plant enters the reproductive phase it begins to produce flowers that are composed of several distinct organ types. The various lateral organs of the adult plant are not formed during embryogenesis. Differentiation is continuous throughout the lifetime of the plant and positional information must therefore be generated de novo. The mechanisms which initiate and coordinate this are not yet clear. In contrast, there has been a rapid accumulation of knowledge concerning the floral developmental programme which is governed by a set of transcription factors named by their common DNA-binding domain, the MADS box. Genetic and molecular studies with two species, Arabidopsis thaliana and Antirrhinum majus, indicate common regulatory mechanisms underlying floral organ differentiation, summarised in the widely accepted ABC model. This chapter will describe and critically examine this model after a brief introduction to processes that precede flower formation.

Keywords

Flower Development Floral Organ Shoot Apical Meristem Organ Identity Floral Meristem 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
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Copyright information

© Springer-Verlag Berlin · Heidelberg New York 1999

Authors and Affiliations

  • Brendan Davies
  • Hans Sommer
  • Zsuzsanna Schwarz-Sommer

There are no affiliations available

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