Flower Organ Formation Research Articles

Karakterisasi Morfologi Bunga dan Buah Abnormal Kelapa Sawit (Elaeis Guineensis Jacq) Hasil Kultur Jaringan

Tissue culture-derived plants of oil palm ( Elaeis guineensis Jacq) can produce abnormal female dan male flowers, especially female, which develop into mantled fruit. This abnormality have caused yield lost up to 40%. The objectives of this research were to study the stages of flower development in which the abnormality started to appear, to characterize the morphology of the abnormal flower and fruit, and to determine the degree of abnormality. Plant materials used in this research were MK152, MK 176, MK 203, MK163, MK104, MK 212 and MK 209 clones obtained from the collection of Badan Pengkajian dan Penerapan Teknologi (BPPT) in Ciampea, Bogor. Characterization of abnormality at the flowering stage was conducted based on morphological performance at several stages of flower development, while the degree of abnormality at fruiting stage was determined based on the condition of carpel, mesocarp and seed. Normal flower and fruit of the same clone were used as the control. The results showed that the abnormality started at primordial stage of flower organ formation. Supplement carpel was found surrounding gynoecium for the abnormal female flower, which was composed of three to six carpels present at separate whorl of flower. Abnormal male flower had no additional whorl of flower, instead stamens were converted into carpel-like structures. In this case, number of carpels structure depends on the degree of abnormality. There were three levels of abnormality, i.e. light abnormality (AbR), heavy abnormality (AbB) and severe abnormality (AbSB). The severe abnormal fruit was seedless, with soft mesocarp (AbSB1) and woody mesocarp (AbSB2). Key words : oil palm, mantled fruit, supplement carpel, flower whorl, tissue culture

A large family of TM3 MADS-box cDNAs in Pinus radiata includes two members with deletions of the conserved K domain

Angiosperm flower organ formation is regulated by three conserved groups of MADS-box genes, but the function of a fourth conserved group, the TM3 orthologues, remains unclear. We report the isolation of six different MADS-box cDNAs from male cones of the gymnosperm Pinus radiata. All are orthologues of TM3 and two encode proteins with different sized deletions within the conserved K domain. Both the deletions and the large number of paralogous duplications within one clade of MADS-box genes are unusual and indicate that this gene family may have been under selection to evolve new functions in conifers.

γ線を照射したチューリップの形態学的研究(第1報)

The present investigation was carried out in order to find out the effects of irradiation on the flower organ formation in tulip and to elucidate the mechanisms of the morphological changes anatomically.The bulbs and plants of tulips at the various growing stages, from the early stage of the flower bud differentiation (July) to the late stage of appearance of flower bud (March) were irradiated with cobalt-60 gamma rays (Table 1, Fig. 1, 3). Dosages employed were 0.5, 1 and 3 krad at dose rates of 1.6×102 and 1.4×104 rad/hr (Table 2).The results of the observation are as follows:

Method of qualitative analysis of animal and vegetable coloring matters by the spectrum microscope

To further understand flowering and flower organ formation in the monocot crop saffron crocus (Crocus sativus L.), we cloned four MIKCc type II MADS-box cDNA sequences of the E-class SEPALLATA3 (SEP3) subfamily designated CsatSEP3a/b/c/c_as as well as the three respective genomic sequences. Sequence analysis showed that cDNA sequences of CsatSEP3 c and c_as are the products of alternative splicing of the CsatSEP3c gene. Bioinformatics analysis with putative orthologous sequences from various plant species suggested that all four cDNA sequences encode for SEP3-like proteins with characteristic motifs and amino acids, and highlighted intriguing sequence features. Phylogenetically, the isolated sequences were closest to the SEP3-like genes from monocots such as Asparagus virgatus, Oryza sativa, Zea mays, and the dicot Arabidopsis SEP3 gene. All four isolated C. sativus sequences were strongly expressed in flowers and in all flower organs: whorl1 tepals, whorl2 tepals, stamens and carpels, but not in leaves. Expression of CsatSEP3a/b/c/c_as cDNAs was compared in wild-type and mutant flowers. Expression of the isolatedCsatSEP3-like genes in whorl1 tepals together with E-class CsatAP1/FUL subfamily and B-class CsatAP3 and CsatPI subfamilies of genes, fits the ABCE “quartet model,” an extended form of the original ABC model proposed to explain the homeotic transformation of whorl1 sepals into whorl1 tepals in Liliales and Asparagales plants such as C. sativus. This conclusion was also supported by the interaction of the CsatSEP3b protein with CsatAP1/FUL and CsatAP3 proteins. In contrast, expression of both B-class CsatAP3 and CsatPI genes and the C-class CsatAGAMOUS genes together with E-class CsatSEP3-like genes in carpels, without any phenotypic effects on carpels, raises questions about the role of these gene classes in carpel formation in this non-grass monocot and requires further experimentation. Finally, taking advantage of the size and sequence differences in amplified genomic sequences of the triploid C. sativus and comparing them with the respective sequences from C. tomasii, C. hadriaticus and C. cartwrightianus, three putative wild-type diploid progenitor species, we examined the origin of CsatSEP3a sequence.