An assessment of morphogenetic fluctuation during reproductive phase change in Arabidopsis

Reproductive phase change in Arabidopsis thaliana is characterized by two transitions in phytomer identity, the differentiation of the first elongate internode (bolting transition) and of the first flower (floral transition). An evaluation of the dynamics of these transitions was sought by examining the precision of the corresponding phytomer identity changes.

The length of the first elongate internode and the frequency of chimeric inflorescence structures, e.g. paraclades not subtended by a leaf (no-leaf/paraclades) and flowers subtended by a bract (bract/flowers), were measured in the Wassilewskija (Ws) accession and 47 early flowering mutants under a wide range of photoperiods. The impact of photoperiodic perturbations applied to Ws plants at different times of development was also evaluated.

In Ws, both types of characters were remarkably constant across photoperiods in spite of a high degree of interindividual variability. Bract/flowers were not normally produced in Ws, but they were observed in conditions that suggest enhanced light signalling, e.g. in response to continuous light perturbations and in mutants with reduced hypocotyl elongation. In contrast, no-leaf/paraclades were normally present in approx. 20 % of Ws plants, and their frequency was increased in conditions that suggest reduced light signalling, e.g. in mutants with altered specification of long-day responses. The length of the first elongate internode was unrelated to the rate of stem elongation and to the regulation of reproductive phase change.

Bract/flowers and no-leaf/paraclades corresponded to opposite effects on the floral transition that reflected different dynamics of progression to flowering. In contrast, the length of the first elongate internode was only indirectly related to the regulation of reproductive phase change and was mainly dependent on global morphogenetic constraints. This paper proposes that morphogenetic variability could be used to identify critical phases of development and characterize the canalization of developmental patterns.