
Article
Ovule development: genetic trends and evolutionary considerations
Sexual Plant Reproduction
(2009)
Abstract
Much of our current understanding of ovule development in flowering pants is derived from genetic and molecular studies performed on Arabidopsis thaliana. Arabidopsis has bitegmic, anatropous ovules, representing both the most common and the putative ancestral state among angiosperms. These studies show that key genetic determinants that act to control morphogenesis during ovule development also play roles in vegetative organ formation, consistent with Goethe’s “everything is a leaf” concept. Additionally, the existence of a common set of genetic factors that underlie laminar growth in angiosperms fits well with hypotheses of homology between integuments and leaves. Utilizing Arabidopsis as a reference, researchers are now investigating taxa with varied ovule morphologies to uncover common and diverged mechanisms of ovule development.
Keywords
- Intergument,
- Evo-devo,
- Ovule development,
- Ovule evolution,
- Polarity,
- YABBY,
- KANADI
Disciplines
Publication Date
December, 2009
DOI
10.1007/s00497-009-0107-2
Publisher Statement
This article is published as Kelley, Dior R., and Charles S. Gasser. "Ovule development: genetic trends and evolutionary considerations." Sexual plant reproduction 22, no. 4 (2009): 229-234. 10.1007/s00497-009-0107-2. Posted with permission.
Citation Information
Dior R. Kelley and Charles S Gasser. "Ovule development: genetic trends and evolutionary considerations" Sexual Plant Reproduction Vol. 22 Iss. 4 (2009) p. 229 - 234 Available at: http://works.bepress.com/dior-kelley/3/
Creative Commons license

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons CC_BY-NC International License.