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Title: Recruitment of an ancient branching program to suppress carpel development in maize flowers
Significance

Floral morphology is immensely diverse. One developmental process acting to shape this diversity is growth suppression. For example, grass flowers exhibit extreme diversity in floral sexuality, arising through differential suppression of stamens or carpels. The genes regulating this growth suppression and how they have evolved remain largely unknown. We discovered that two classic developmental genes with ancient roles in controlling vegetative branching were recruited to suppress carpel development in maize. Our results highlight the power of forward genetics to reveal unpredictable genetic interactions and hidden pleiotropy of developmental genes. More broadly, our findings illustrate how ancient gene functions are recruited to new developmental contexts in the evolution of plant form.

 
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Award ID(s):
1652380
PAR ID:
10541932
Author(s) / Creator(s):
 ;  ;  ;  ;  ;  ;  ;  ;  ;  ;  ;  
Publisher / Repository:
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Volume:
119
Issue:
2
ISSN:
0027-8424
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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