In petunia, loci PH1 to PH7 are involved in an unknown vacuolar acidification pathway since disruption of these loci results in an increased vacuolar pH and bluish flowers. PH4 encodes a MYB protein, which regulates, together with regulators of the anthocyanin biosynthesis pathway (AN1, AN2 and AN11), the transcription of (unknown) structural genes involved in vacuolar acidification. Here we sh...

We screened for pollen-specific kinase genes, which are potential signal transduction components of pollen-pistil interactions, and isolated two structurally related receptor-like kinases (RLKs) from tomato, LePRK1 and LePRK2. These kinases are similar to a pollen-expressed RLK from petunia, but they are expressed later during pollen development than is the petunia RLK. The abundance of LePRK2 ...

In the last 15 years, knowledge of the molecular and genetic mechanisms that underlie floral induction, floral patterning, and floral organ identity has exploded. Elucidation of basic mechanisms has derived primarily from work in three dicot species: Antirrhinum majus, Arabidopsis thaliana, and Petunia hybrida. Although Antirrhinum and petunia have contributed fundamental breakthroughs to our u...

Objective: To evaluate water consumption in ornamental plants (geranium, gazania and petunia) two substrates with different particle sizes (fine coarse) of tezontle peat moss, through a suction irrigation system, which uses porous capsules as emitters. Design/methodology/approach: The experimental design was complete randomized blocks, six treatments (three species substrates) four repetitions ...

Flowers entice animal pollinators using a complex array of attractions. Reciprocal transfer of traits between Petunia species now shows that colour and scent are equally important to hawkmoths in choosing between different flowers.

Variation in grass architecture profoundly affects light capture, competition, and reproductive success, and is responsive to environmental factors such as crowding and nutrient limitation. Recent work in both model and crop systems has uncovered many aspects of the genetic control of branching, including conservation of the MONOCULM1 and MORE AXILLARY BRANCHING/DECREASED APICAL DOMINANCE/RAMOS...

Integration of foreign genes into plant genomes by the Agrobacterium T-DNA transfer system has been considered to occur at random. It has been speculated that the chromosomal structure of the integration site might affect the expression pattern of the introduced genes. To gain insight into the molecular structure of T-DNA integration sites and its possible impact on gene expression, we have exa...