ABSTRACT Perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne) was inoculated with urediniospores of Puccinia graminis subsp. graminicola at four stages of reproductive tiller development. All developmental stages, from expansion of the penultimate leaf through anthesis, were equally susceptible to infection measured as number of pustules per total inoculated plant area. However, within each stage from boot thro...

The Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL) mapping of plant architecture is a critical step for understanding the genetic determinism of plant architecture. Previous studies adopted simple measurements, such as plant-height, stem-diameter and branching-intensity for QTL mapping of plant architecture. Many of these quantitative traits were generally correlated to each other, which give rise to statistica...

The evolution of domesticated maize from its wild ancestor teosinte is a dramatic example of the effect of human selection on agricultural crops. Maize has one dominant axis of growth, whereas teosinte is highly branched. The axillary branches in maize are short and feminized whereas the axillary branches of teosinte are long and end in a male inflorescence under normal growth conditions. Previ...

Plant architecture results from the activity of the shoot apical meristem, which initiates leaves, internodes, and axillary meristems. KNOTTED1-like homeobox (KNOX) genes are expressed in specific patterns in the shoot apical meristem and play important roles in plant architecture. KNOX proteins interact with BEL1-like (BELL) homeodomain proteins and together bind a target sequence with high af...

Vitis vinifera glycosyl hydrolase family 17 (VvGHF17) is a grape apoplasmic β-1,3-glucanase, which belongs to glycosyl hydrolase family 17 in grapevines. β-1,3-glucanase is not only involved in plant defense response but also has various physiological functions in plants. Although VvGHF17 expression is negatively related to the length of inflorescence in grapevines, the physiological functions ...

The relationship between fruit development and the proliferative capacities of inflorescence meristems has been examined in Arabidopsis thaliana. In the wild-type Landsberg erecta (Ler) line, flower production ceases coordinately on all inflorescence branches by a process we have designated global proliferative arrest (GPA). Morphological studies indicate that GPA involves a cessation of prolif...

Ferulago macedonica Micevski & E. Mayer (Apiaceae), an endemic species from Macedonia, was evaluated for its essential oil composition and biological activity for the first time. The essential oil composition from inflorescence and aerial parts, analyzed by gas chromatography and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC and GC-MS), indicated α-pinene (43.10% and 22.78%) and sabinene (26.73% and...

In Arabidopsis floral meristems are specified on the periphery of the inflorescence meristem by the combined activities of the FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT)-FD complex and the flower meristem identity gene LEAFY. The floral specification activity of FT is dependent upon two related BELL1-like homeobox (BLH) genes PENNYWISE (PNY) and POUND-FOOLISH (PNF) which are required for floral evocation. PNY and ...

Epidendrum radicans is a food deceptive Batesian mimic of its sympatric model species Asclepias curassavica and Lantana camara. Theoretically, food deceptive orchids should be rare with small inflorescences (Johnson et al. 1993; Weins 1978) yet in San Luis, Costa Rica E. radicans grows in large monotypic stands with individuals sporting up to 12 open flowers per inflorescence. E. radicans might...

Variation in inflorescence development patterns is a central factor in the evolutionary ecology of plants. The genetic architectures of 13 traits associated with inflorescence developmental timing, architecture, rosette morphology, and fitness were investigated in Arabidopsis thaliana, a model plant system. There is substantial naturally occurring genetic variation for inflorescence development...