Petal fusion in petunia (Petunia x hybrida) results from lateral expansion of the five initially separate petal primordia, forming a ring-like primordium that determines further development. Here, we show that MAEWEST (MAW) and CHORIPETALA SUZANNE (CHSU) are required for petal and carpel fusion, as well as for lateral outgrowth of the leaf blade. Morphological and molecular analysis of maw and ...

Sensitivity to ozone of pollen germinating in vitro is closely correlated with ozone sensitivity of the pollen parent. Ozone-sensitive and tolerant pollen populations have been identified in tobacco, petunia, and tomato cultivars. The rate of tube elongation can be reversibly slowed or stopped by exposure to low concentrations of ozone. Tube growth rates in the presence of a range of ozone dosa...

Gametophytic self-incompatibility (GSI), which prevents growth of a pollen tube through the style, provides a means of preventing self-pollination. Seen in most eudicot plant families, GSI in the genus Petunia was described by Darwin in the 19th century. By the time the first edition of this monograph was published in 1984, nearly a century later, most of the readily observable phenomena associ...

Floral scent, which is determined by a complex mixture of low molecular weight volatile molecules, plays a major role in the plant’s life cycle. Phenylpropanoid volatiles are the main determinants of floral scent in petunia (Petunia hybrida). A screen using virus-induced gene silencing for regulators of scent production in petunia flowers yielded a novel R2R3-MYB–like regulatory factor of pheny...

The active endogenous dTph1 system of the Petunia hybrida mutator line W138 has been used in several forward-genetic mutant screens that were based on visible phenotypes such as flower morphology and color. In contrast, defective symbiotic phosphate (P(i)) transport in mycorrhizal roots of Petunia is a hidden molecular phenotype as the symbiosis between plant roots and fungi takes place below g...

In Petunia (Mitchell) there are at least 16 genes which encode the chlorophyll a/b binding proteins; these genes have been classified into small multigene families based upon nucleotide sequence homology (1). A gene from each of five distinct Cab gene families is compared here. These genes have uninterrupted open reading frames of 266 or 267 amino acids corresponding to the Cab precursor protei...

Petunias are important ornamentals with the capacity for cold acclimation. So far, there is limited information concerning gene regulation and signaling pathways associated with the cold stress response in petunias. A custom-designed petunia microarray representing 24816 genes was used to perform transcriptome profiling in petunia seedlings subjected to cold at 2°C for 0.5 h, 2 h, 24 h, and 5 d...

1. Antisera were produced, separately, in rabbits to normal sap from healthy Turkish tobacco plants and to irus-sap from tobacco plants, affected with mosaic disease. 2. The immunologic reactions of the antisera were studied by means of: (a) Alexin-fixation tests. (b) Precipitation experiments, including: Precipitin-absorption tests with the same tobacco virus multiplied in tobacco, tomato, pep...

Phenylpropenes such as chavicol, t-anol, eugenol, and isoeugenol are produced by plants as defense compounds against animals and microorganisms and as floral attractants of pollinators. Moreover, humans have used phenylpropenes since antiquity for food preservation and flavoring and as medicinal agents. Previous research suggested that the phenylpropenes are synthesized in plants from substitut...

Several genes belonging to the MADS box transcription factor family have been shown to be involved in the transition from vegetative to reproductive growth. The Petunia hybrida MADS box gene UNSHAVEN (UNS) shares sequence similarity with the Arabidopsis thaliana flowering gene SUPPRESSOR OF OVEREXPRESSION OF CONSTANS1, is expressed in vegetative tissues, and is downregulated upon floral initiat...