Bortiri, E., Chuck, G., Vollbrecht, E., Rocheford, T. R., Martienssen, R. A., Hake, S. (March 2006) ramosa2 encodes a LATERAL ORGAN BOUNDARY domain protein that determines the fate of stem cells in branch meristems of maize. Plant Cell, 18 (3). pp. 574-585. ISSN 10404651
Abstract
Genetic control of grass inflorescence architecture is critical given that cereal seeds provide most of the world's food. Seeds are borne on axillary branches, which arise from groups of stem cells in axils of leaves and whose branching patterns dictate most of the variation in plant form. Normal maize (Zea mays) ears are unbranched, and tassels have long branches only at their base. The ramosa2 (ra2) mutant of maize has increased branching with short branches replaced by long, indeterminate ones. ra2 was cloned by chromosome walking and shown to encode a LATERAL ORGAN BOUNDARY domain transcription factor. ra2 is transiently expressed in a group of cells that predicts the position of axillary meristem formation in inflorescences. Expression in different mutant backgrounds places ra2 upstream of other genes that regulate branch formation. The early expression of ra2 suggests that it functions in the patterning of stem cells in axillary meristems. Alignment of ra2-like sequences reveals a grass-specific domain in the C terminus that is not found in Arabidopsis thaliana. The ra2-dm allele suggests this domain is required for transcriptional activation of ra1. The ra2 expression pattern is conserved in rice (Oryza sativa), barley (Hordeum vulgare), sorghum (Sorghum bicolor), and maize, suggesting that ra2 is critical for shaping the initial steps of grass inflorescence architecture. © 2006 American Society of Plant Biologists.
| Item Type: | Paper |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | transcription factor vegetable protein maize meristem stem cell Meristem Plant Proteins Stem Cells Transcription Factors Zea mays |
| Subjects: | organism description > plant > maize organs, tissues, organelles, cell types and functions > tissues types and functions > inflorescence therapies > stem cells bioinformatics > genomics and proteomics > genetics & nucleic acid processing > protein structure, function, modification > protein types > transcription factor |
| CSHL Authors: | |
| Communities: | CSHL labs > Martienssen lab |
| Depositing User: | CSHL Librarian |
| Date: | March 2006 |
| Date Deposited: | 21 Dec 2011 15:00 |
| Last Modified: | 09 Apr 2014 20:40 |
| PMCID: | PMC1383634 |
| Related URLs: | |
| URI: | https://repository.cshl.edu/id/eprint/22759 |
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