Floral nectar of animal-pollinated plants is commonly infested with microorganisms, yet little is known about the microorganisms inhabiting the floral nectar of orchids. In this study, we investigated microbial communities occurring in the floral nectar of seven Epipactis (Orchidaceae) species. Culturable bacteria and yeasts were isolated and identified by partially sequencing the small subunit...

Over 22,000 species of biotically pollinated flowering plants, including some major agricultural crops, depend primarily on bees capable of floral sonication for pollination services. The ability to sonicate ("buzz") flowers is widespread in bees but not ubiquitous. Despite the prevalence of this pollinator behavior and its importance to natural and agricultural systems, the evolutionary histor...

Boundary formation is a crucial developmental process in plant organogenesis. Boundaries separate cells with distinct identities and act as organizing centers to control the development of adjacent organs. In flower development, initiation of floral primordia requires the formation of the meristem-to-organ (M-O) boundaries and floral organ development depends on the establishment of organ-to-or...

To understand better the role of genes in controlling ovule development, a female-sterile mutant, aintegumenta (ant), was isolated from Arabidopsis. In ovules of this mutant, integuments do not develop and megasporogenesis is blocked at the tetrad stage. As a pleiotropic effect, narrower floral organs arise in reduced numbers. More complete loss of floral organs occurs when the ant mutant is co...

Angiosperm flowers are usually determinate structures that may produce seeds. In some species, flowers can revert from committed flower development back to an earlier developmental phase in a process called floral reversion. The allopolyploid Arabidopsis suecica displays photoperiod-dependent floral reversion in a subset of its flowers, yet little is known about the environmental conditions enh...

The organs of a eudicot flower are specified by four functional classes, termed class A, B, C and E, of MADS domain transcription factors. The combinatorial formation of tetrameric complexes, so called 'floral quartets', between these classes is widely believed to represent the molecular basis of floral organ identity specification. As constituents of all complexes, the class E floral homeotic ...

The diversity of floral forms in nature can be explained largely as adaptations to the diversity of biotic and abiotic selective agents with which different plant species interact. Ecological genetics is the study of the process of adaptation, and therefore is an ideal approach to understanding floral adaptations. Here I review work on selection and genetic variance and covariance of floral tra...

Plant-pollinator interactions are thought to be major drivers of floral trait diversity. However, the relative importance of divergent pollinator-mediated selection vs. neutral processes in floral character evolution has rarely been explored. We tested for adaptive floral trait evolution by comparing differentiation at neutral genetic loci to differentiation at quantitative floral traits in a p...

Various biotic and abiotic factors are known to exert selection pressures on floral traits, but the influence of ultraviolet-B (UV-B) light on the evolution of flower structure remains relatively unexplored. We have examined the effectiveness of flower structure in blocking radiation and the effects of UV-B on pollen viability in 42 species of alpine plants in the Hengduan Mountains, China. Flo...

Floral morphology determines the pattern of pollen transfer within and between individuals. In hermaphroditic species, the spatial arrangement of sexual organs influences the rate of self-pollination as well as the placement of pollen in different areas of the pollinator's body. Studying the evolutionary modification of floral morphology in closely related species offers an opportunity to inves...