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The Relationship between auxin transport and maize branching
Andrea Gallavotti1, Yan Yang, Robert J Schmidt
1Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, New York 11724, USA.
Plant Physiology
|June 14, 2008
Summary
Maize branching is regulated by auxin transport, creating response maxima essential for forming vegetative and reproductive structures. This mechanism is conserved across species and explains unique grass inflorescence development.
Area of Science:
- Plant biology
- Developmental biology
- Genetics
Background:
- Maize (Zea mays) exhibits complex branching patterns during development.
- Branches originate from axillary meristems formed on shoot apical meristems.
- Grass-specific structures like spikelets arise from specialized meristems.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the molecular mechanisms controlling maize branching.
- To understand the role of auxin transport in maize development.
- To elucidate the formation of grass-specific axillary meristems.
Main Methods:
- Generated transgenic maize expressing ZmPIN1a-YFP and DR5rev-RFP.
- Utilized fluorescence imaging to observe auxin response maxima.
- Tested ZmPIN1a function in Arabidopsis pin1-3 mutants.
Main Results:
- All maize branching events are regulated by auxin response maxima created by polar auxin transporters.
- The maize auxin transporter ZmPIN1a is functional and can rescue Arabidopsis mutants.
- BARREN STALK1 is crucial for initiating polar auxin transport for axillary meristem formation.
Conclusions:
- Branching mechanisms in maize are conserved across species.
- Auxin transport dynamics explain the formation of grass-specific axillary meristems.
- A general model for maize inflorescence branching is proposed.
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