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Abstract Detail



Anatomy and Morphology

Conway, Stephanie [1], Kramer, Elena [2].

The role of the plant hormone Brassinosteroid in the petal spur in Aquilegia.

The model plant Aquilegia produces elongated, three-dimensional petal spurs that fill with nectar to attract pollinators. The spur is a useful system to investigate the interacting roles of cell division and cell elongation to produce complex three-dimensional organs. Previous studies have found that the spur develops with two major phases, firstly cell division concentrated around the incipient nectary, followed by a switch to cell elongation to produce the lengthened spur and that the phase of elongation accounts for the majority of spur-length diversity across the family. Transcriptomic studies on the petal spur revealed the upregulation of the Aquilegia homolog of the BEH4, a known response transcription factor to the plant hormone Brassinosteroid (BR). In Arabidopsis and rice, brassinosteroids have been shown to regulate a wide range of developmental processes, including cell elongation. These data suggest that BR signaling may play a critical role in the switch from cell division to cell elongation that leads to the formation and length of the petal spur in Aquilegia. In this study we are investigating the role of BEH4 in the Aquilegia petal spur using a combination of gene expression studies, hormone applications and gene silencing.


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1 - Harvard University, OEB, 16 Divinity Ave, Kramer Lab Biolabs Room 1119, Cambridge, MA, 02138, United States
2 - Harvard Univ., OEB, 16 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA, 02138, United States

Keywords:
aquilegia
hormone
Petal
cell elongation.

Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: AM1, Anatomy and Morphology I
Location: San Ignacio/Starr Pass
Date: Tuesday, July 30th, 2019
Time: 10:45 AM
Number: AM1008
Abstract ID:801
Candidate for Awards:None


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