Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 7-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

The evolution of apical dominance in maize

The evolution of apical dominance in maize The domestication of crop plants has often involved an increase in apical dominance (the concentration of resources in the main stem of the plant and a corresponding suppression of axillary branches)1. A striking example of this phenomenon is seen in maize (Zea mays spp. mays), which exhibits a profound increase in apical dominance compared with its probable wild ancestor, teosinte (Zea mays ssp. parviglumis)2. Previous research has identified the teosinte branched1 (tb1) gene as a major contributor to this evolutionary change in maize3. We have cloned tb1 by transposon tagging and show here that it encodes a protein with homology to the cycloidea gene of snapdragon4. The pattern of tb1 expression and the morphology of tb1 mutant plants suggest that tb1 acts both to repress the growth of axillary organs and to enable the formation of female inflorescences. The maize allele of tb1 is expressed at twice the level of the teosinte allele, suggesting that gene regulatory changes underlie the evolutionary divergence of maize from teosinte. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Nature Springer Journals

The evolution of apical dominance in maize

Doebley, John; Stec, Adrian; Hubbard, Lauren
Nature , Volume 386 (6624) – Apr 3, 1997
Download PDF
4 pages

Loading next page...
 
/lp/springer-journals/the-evolution-of-apical-dominance-in-maize-codRfWKQYF

References (14)

Publisher
Springer Journals
Copyright
Copyright © 1997 by Nature Publishing Group
Subject
Science, Humanities and Social Sciences, multidisciplinary; Science, Humanities and Social Sciences, multidisciplinary; Science, multidisciplinary
ISSN
0028-0836
eISSN
1476-4687
DOI
10.1038/386485a0
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

The domestication of crop plants has often involved an increase in apical dominance (the concentration of resources in the main stem of the plant and a corresponding suppression of axillary branches)1. A striking example of this phenomenon is seen in maize (Zea mays spp. mays), which exhibits a profound increase in apical dominance compared with its probable wild ancestor, teosinte (Zea mays ssp. parviglumis)2. Previous research has identified the teosinte branched1 (tb1) gene as a major contributor to this evolutionary change in maize3. We have cloned tb1 by transposon tagging and show here that it encodes a protein with homology to the cycloidea gene of snapdragon4. The pattern of tb1 expression and the morphology of tb1 mutant plants suggest that tb1 acts both to repress the growth of axillary organs and to enable the formation of female inflorescences. The maize allele of tb1 is expressed at twice the level of the teosinte allele, suggesting that gene regulatory changes underlie the evolutionary divergence of maize from teosinte.

Journal

Nature – Springer Journals

Published: Apr 3, 1997

There are no references for this article.