Exciting advances in our understanding of plant reproductive biology are being spurred both by new research on established model systems and by the emergence of new models. Moreover, comparative analyses are placing knowledge derived from each of these systems into an evolutionary framework and thus providing insights into the processes responsible for the diversity of forms we see today. The n...

Allometric scaling theory has previously been used to estimate the functional relationship between two biological variables. In addition to parameter estimation, deviations from the general scaling relationship can be used to create hypotheses. Here, I explore deviations from the allometric scaling pattern for plant and floral size within the genus Collinsia on three levels: among species, with...

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are post-transcriptional regulators of growth and development in both plants and animals. Flowering is critical for the reproduction of angiosperms. Flower development entails the transition from vegetative growth to reproductive growth, floral organ initiation, and the development of floral organs. These developmental processes are genetically regulated by miRNAs, which part...

Protective floral structures may evolve in response to the negative effects of floral herbivores. For example, water calyces--liquid-filled, cup-like structures resulting from the fusion of sepals--may reduce floral herbivory by submerging buds during their development. Our observations of a water-calyx plant, Chrysothemis friedrichsthaliana (Gesneriaceae), revealed that buds were frequently at...

As a step toward functional annotation of genes required for floral initiation and development within the Eucalyptus genome, we used short read sequencing to analyze transcriptomes of floral buds from early and late developmental stages, and compared these with transcriptomes of diverse vegetative tissues, including leaves, roots, and stems. A subset of 4807 genes (13% of protein-coding genes) ...

Five B-class MADS-box genes, including four APETALA3 (AP3)-like PeMADS2∼5 and one PISTILLATA (PI)-like PeMADS6, specify the spectacular flower morphology in orchids. The PI-like PeMADS6 ubiquitously expresses in all floral organs. The four AP3-like genes, resulted from two duplication events, express ubiquitously at floral primordia and early floral organ stages, but show distinct expression pr...