Biology Department Seminar

Plant shoots display a variety of architectures, specified primarily by branching patterns. Understanding molecular genetic bases of key architectural processes will enable manipulation for yield of grain, biomass, and other traits, including in potential energy crops such as switchgrass and miscanthus. Our analysis of shoot branching in maize analyzes architecture in the flowering head (e.g., the ear) and the whole plant. In the ear, a network of gene interactions termed the ramosa pathway regulates differential production of a range of long and short branch fates. In the vegetative shoot, branch fate is less plastic. Mutational, QTL and molecular analysis has identified roles for both regulatory proteins, like transcription factors, and physiological effectors like plant growth regulators. Experiments in Setaria, Sorghum and panicoid grasses, indicate that some components of the ramosa pathway are highly conserved, while others are likely sources of morphological diversity that arises during domestication and evolution.