Distinct floral pollination syndromes have emerged multiple times during the diversification of flowering plants. For example, in western North America, a hummingbird pollination syndrome has evolved more than 100 times, generally from within insect-pollinated lineages. The hummingbird syndrome is characterized by a suite of floral traits that attracts and facilitates pollen movement by humming...

Rafflesiaceae, which produce the world's largest flowers, have captivated the attention of biologists for nearly two centuries. Despite their fame, however, the developmental nature of the floral organs in these giants has remained a mystery. Most members of the family have a large floral chamber defined by a diaphragm. The diaphragm encloses the reproductive organs where pollination by carrion...

In a screen to identify novel genes required for early Arabidopsis flower development, we isolated four independent mutations that enhance the Ufo phenotype toward the production of filamentous structures in place of flowers. The mutants fall into three complementation groups, which we have termed FUSED FLORAL ORGANS (FFO) loci. ffo mutants have specific defects in floral organ separation and/o...

The expression of the floral regulators LEAFY, APETALA1 and AGAMOUS-LIKE8 was examined during light treatments that induced flowering in Arabidopsis, and was compared to time points at which floral determination occurred. Extension of an 8-hour day by either continuous red- or far-red-enriched light induced LEAFY and AGAMOUS-LIKE8 expression within 4 hours. The 4 hours of additional light was s...

Plants engage in diverse and intimate interactions with unrelated taxa. For example, aboveground floral visitors provide pollination services, while belowground arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) enhance nutrient capture. Traditionally in ecology, these processes were studied in isolation, reinforcing the prevailing assumption that these above- and belowground processes were also functionally d...

The sessile plants have evolved diverse intrinsic mechanisms to control their proper development under variable environments. In contrast to plastic vegetative development, reproductive traits like floral identity often show phenotypic robustness against environmental variations. However, it remains obscure about the molecular basis of this phenotypic robustness. In this study, we found that eg...

Magnolia sprengeri Pamp. is an ornamentally and ecologically important tree that blooms at cold temperatures in early spring. In this study, thermogenesis and variation in the chemical compounds of floral odours and insect visitation in relation to flowering cycles were studied to increase our understanding of the role of floral thermogenesis in the pollination biology of M. sprengeri. There we...

The transition to flowering is a tightly controlled developmental decision in plants. In Arabidopsis, LEAFY (LFY) and APETALA1 (AP1) are key regulators of this transition and expression of these genes in primordia produced by the inflorescence meristem confers floral fate. Here, we examine the role of architectural regulators BLADE-ON-PETIOLE1 (BOP1) and BOP2 in promotion of floral meristem ide...

Theory predicts that tighter correlation between floral traits and weaker relationship between floral and vegetative traits more likely occur in specialized flowers than generalized flowers, favoring by precise fit with pollinators. However, traits and trait correlations frequently vary under different environments. Through detecting spatiotemporal variation in phenotypic traits (floral organ s...

We have characterized the floral phenotypes produced by the recessive homeotic apetala 1-1 (ap1-1) mutation in Arabidopsis. Plants homozygous for this mutation display a homeotic conversion of sepsis into brachts and the concomitant formation of floral buds in the axil of each transformed sepal. In addition, these flowers lack petals. We show that the loss of petal phenotype is due to the failu...