Abstract
The qualitative model presented in this work recovers the onset of the four fields that correspond to those of each floral organ whorl of Arabidopsis flower, suggesting a mechanism for the generation of the positional information required for the differential expression of the A, B, and C identity genes according to the ABC model for organ determination during early stages of flower development. Our model integrates a previous model for the emergence of WUS pattern in the floral meristem, and shows that this pre-pattern is a necessary but not sufficient condition for the posterior information of the four fields predicted by the ABC model. Furthermore, our model predicts that LFY diffusion along the L1 layer of cells is not a necessary condition for the patterning of the floral meristem.
Highlights
Morphogenesis occurs in plants during their whole life-cycle, with aerial and root structures forming from groups of undifferentiated or stem cells within niches found in the apical meristems in the shoot and root tips, respectively
In this study we have explored the link between the Gene Regulatory Network (GRN) dynamics and the emergence of apical meristem regions with specific positional information that had remained unclear from previous studies
We explored how the nonlinear interaction between the protein products of the floral GRN yields the instability of the chemical fields in the flower primordium, and how the diffusive properties of some of these proteins drive the system into a steady stable dissipative structure with a pattern that coincides with that observed during floral organ specification in early flower development
Summary
Morphogenesis occurs in plants during their whole life-cycle, with aerial and root structures forming from groups of undifferentiated or stem cells within niches found in the apical meristems in the shoot and root tips, respectively. The vegetative meristem only produces leaves as lateral organs, while the inflorescence one produces flowers that arise from its flanks in a spiral arrangement. At least four genes are necessary for the specification of floral meristem identity in Arabidopsis: LEAFY (LFY), CAULIFLOWER (CAL), APETALA1 (AP1), and FRUITFULL (FUL) (Mandel et al, 1992; Moyroud et al, 2001; Maizel and Weigel, 2004). According to the ABC model of flower development the A genes [APETALLA1 (AP1) and APETALA2 (AP2)] are expressed alone in the outer whorl of the floral meristem and are necessary for sepal specification. A and B genes [PISTILLATA (PI) and APETALA3 (AP3)] are necessary for petal specification in the second whorl of the floral meristem, while B and C genes [AGAMOUS (AG)] together are necessary for stamen
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