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March 2003 - present
Publications
Publications (47)
Trichomes are specialized epidermal cells in the aerial plant parts. Trichome development proceeds in three stages, determination of cell fate, specification, and morphogenesis. Most genes responsible for these processes have been identified in the unicellular branched leaf trichomes from the model Arabidopsis thaliana. Less is known about the mole...
The long juvenile period of fruit trees makes their breeding costly and time-consuming. Therefore, flowering time engineering and shortening the juvenile phase have become a breeding priority for the genetic improvement of fruit tree crops. Many economically valuable fruit trees belong to the Rosaceae family including apples and strawberries. TEMPR...
Many economically valuable fruit trees belong to the Rosaceae family. The long juvenile period of fruit trees makes their breeding costly and time-consuming. Therefore, flowering time regulation and shortening the juvenile phase have been a breeding priority for genetic improvement of fruit tree crops. TEMPRANILLO genes act as floral inhibitors in...
Fluctuations in environmental conditions greatly influence life on earth. Plants, as sessile organisms, have developed molecular mechanisms to adapt their development to changes in daylength, or photoperiod. One of the first plant features that comes to mind as affected by the duration of the day is flowering time; we all bring up a clear image of...
Background and Aims
The epidermis constitutes the outermost tissue of the plant body. Although it plays major structural, physiological, and ecological roles in embryophytes, the molecular mechanisms controlling epidermal cell fate, differentiation, and trichome development is scarce across angiosperms, and almost unexplored in floral organs.
Meth...
Members of the plant specific RAV family of transcription factors regulate several developmental and physiological processes. In the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, the RAV TEMPRANILLO 1 (TEM1) and TEM2 control important phase changes such as the juvenile to adult and the vegetative to reproductive transitions. Besides their known regulatory func...
In angiosperms, floral homeotic genes encoding MADS-domain transcription factors regulate the development of floral organs. Specifically, members of the SEPALLATA (SEP) and AGAMOUS (AG) subfamilies form higher order protein complexes to control Floral Meristem determinacy and to specify the identity of female reproductive organs. In rice, the AG su...
In plants, correct formation of reproductive organs is critical for successful seed-set and perpetuation of the species. Plants have evolved different molecular mechanisms to co-ordinate flower and seed development at the proper time of the year. Among the plant-specific RELATED TO ABI3 AND VP1 (RAV) family of transcription factors, only TEM-PRANIL...
In the age‐dependent pathway, the microRNA 156 (miR156) is essential for the correct timing of developmental transitions. MiR156 negatively regulates several SPL genes, which promote the juvenile‐to‐adult and floral transitions in part through up‐regulation of miR172. The transcriptional repressors TEMPRANILLO1 (TEM1) and TEM2 delay flowering in Ar...
The effective anti-malarial drug artemisinin (AN) isolated from Artemisia annua is relatively expensive due to the low content in the plant as it is only synthesized within the glandular trichomes. Therefore, genetic engineering of A. annua is one of the most promising approaches to improve AN yield. In this work, AaMYB1 transcription factor has be...
Malaria is a parasite infection affecting millions of people worldwide. Even though progress has been made in prevention and treatment of the disease; an estimated 214 million cases of malaria occurred in 2015, resulting in 438,000 estimated deaths; most of them occurring in Africa among children under the age of five. This article aims to review t...
Plant trichomes are defensive specialized epidermal cells. In all accepted models, the epidermis is the layer involved in trichome formation, a process controlled by gibberellins (GA) in Arabidopsis rosette leaves. Indeed, GA activate a genetic cascade in the epidermis for trichome initiation. Here we report that TEMPRANILLO (TEM) genes negatively...
Gibberellins (GAs) and cytokinins (CKs) are plant hormones that act either synergistically or antagonistically during the regulation of different developmental processes. In Arabidopsis thaliana, GAs and CKs overlap in the positive regulation of processes such as the transition from the vegetative to the reproductive phase and the development of ep...
Plants integrate day length and ambient temperature to determine the optimal timing for developmental transitions. In Arabidopsis thaliana, the floral integrator FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT) and its closest homologue TWIN SISTER OF FT (TSF) promote flowering in response to their activator CONSTANS (CO), under long-day (LD) inductive conditions. Low ambie...
Background
Transcription factors of the RAV (RELATED TO ABI3 AND VP1) family are plant-specific and possess two DNA-binding domains. In Arabidopsis thaliana, the family comprises six members, including TEMPRANILLO 1 (TEM1) and TEM2. Arabidopsis RAV1 and TEM1 have been shown to bind bipartite DNA sequences, with the consensus motif C(A/C/G)ACA(N)2-8...
Elucidating molecular links between cell-fate regulatory networks and dynamic patterning modules is a key for understanding development. Auxin is important for plant patterning, particularly in roots, where it establishes positional information for cell-fate decisions. PIN genes encode plasma membrane proteins that serve as auxin efflux transporter...
The Arabidopsis fruit forms a seedpod that develops from the fertilized gynoecium. It is mainly comprised of an ovary in which three distinct tissues can be differentiated: the valves, the valve margins and the replum. Separation of cells at the valve margin allows for the valves to detach from the replum and thus dispersal of the seeds. Valves and...
In Arabidopsis, FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT) promotes flowering in response to long days in the photoperiod pathway, while signalling downstream gibberellin (GA) perception is critical for flowering under short days. Previously we have established that the TEMPRANILLO (TEM) genes have a pivotal role in the direct repression of FT. Here we show that TEM g...
The gynoecium is the most complex floral organ, designed to protect the ovules and ensure their fertilization. Correct patterning and tissue specification in the developing gynoecium involves the concerted action of a host of genetic factors. In addition, apical-basal patterning into different domains, stigma and style, ovary and gynophore, appears...
Seasonal changes in day length influence flowering time in many plant species. In Arabidopsis, flowering is accelerated by exposure to long day (LD). Those inductive photoperiods are perceived in leaves [1] and initiate a long-distance signaling mediated by CO and FT. CO is expressed in the phloem according to a circadian rhythm [2-4]. Only under L...
MADS-box genes are key components of the networks that control the transition to flowering and flower development, but their role in vegetative development is poorly understood. This article shows that the sister gene of the AGAMOUS (AG) clade, AGL12, has an important role in root development as well as in flowering transition. We isolated three mu...
During Arabidopsis flower development a set of homeotic genes plays a central role in specifying the distinct floral organs of the four whorls, sepals in the outermost whorl, and petals, stamens, and carpels in the sequentially inner whorls. The current model for the identity of the floral organs includes the SEPALLATA genes that act in combination...
The study of flower development has experienced great advances over the last 15 years. The most important landmark was the proposal of the ABC model in which three different functions of overlapping activities account for the development of the four rings of organs of the eudicot flower. Most interestingly, during recent years this simple and elega...
The ABC model of flower organ identity is widely recognized as providing a framework for understanding the specification of flower organs in diverse plant species. Recent studies in Arabidopsis thaliana have shown that three closely related MADS-box genes, SEPALLATA1 (SEP1), SEP2 and SEP3, are required to specify petals, stamens, and carpels becaus...
MADS-domain-containing transcription factors comprise a large family of regulators that have diverse roles in plant development, including the regulation of flowering time. AGAMOUS-LIKE 20/SUPPRESSOR OF OVEREXPRESSION OF CONSTANS1 (SOC1) and FRUITFUL act to promote flowering, whereas FLOWERING LOCUS C (FLC), FLOWERING LOCUS M/MADS AFFECTING FLOWERI...
Arabidopsis flowers and fruit are typical of the more than three thousand species of Brassicaceae and have been the subject of intensive genetic and molecular studies. Among the many genes that have been identified that control various aspects of flower and fruit development, the MADS-box family has been shown to play central roles. MADS-box genes...
In Arabidopsis, the closely related APETALA1 (AP1) and CAULIFLOWER (CAL) MADS-box genes share overlapping roles in promoting flower meristem identity. Later in flower development, the AP1 gene is required for normal development of sepals and petals. Studies of MADS-domain proteins in diverse species have shown that they often function as heterodime...
In Arabidopsis, the closely related APETALA1 (AP1) and CAULIFLOWER (CAL) MADS-box genes share overlapping roles in promoting flower meristem identity. Later in flower development, the AP1 gene is required for normal development of sepals and petals. Studies of MADS-domain proteins in diverse species have shown that they often function as heterodime...
More than 200 years ago, Goethe proposed that each of the distinct flower organs represents a modified leaf [1]. Support for this hypothesis has come from genetic studies, which have identified genes required for flower organ identity. These genes have been incorporated into the widely accepted ABC model of flower organ identity, a model that appea...
MADS-box genes encode transcriptional regulators involved in diverse aspects of plant development. Here we describe the cloning and mRNA spatio-temporal expression patterns of five new MADS-box genes from Arabidopsis: AGL16, AGL18, AGL19, AGL27 and AGL31. These genes will probably become important molecular tools for both evolutionary and functiona...
Abnormal flowers have been recognized for thousands of years, but only in the past decade have the mysteries of flower development begun to unfold. Among these mysteries is the differentiation of four distinct organ types (sepals, petals, stamens and carpels), each of which may be a modified leaf. A landmark accomplishment in plant developmental bi...
Changes in genes encoding transcriptional regulators can alter development and are important components of the molecular mechanisms
of morphological evolution. MADS-box genes encode transcriptional regulators of diverse and important biological functions.
In plants, MADS-box genes regulate flower, fruit, leaf, and root development. Recent sequencin...
The fruit is a highly specialized plant organ that occurs in diverse forms among the angiosperms. Fruits of Arabidopsis thaliana, which are typical of the > 3000 species of Brassicaceae, develop from a gynoecium that consists of two fused carpels. The mature gynoecium of Arabidopsis is composed of an apical stigma, a short style, and a basal ovary...
To identify genes involved in the patterning of adult structures, Gal4-UAS (upstream activating site) technology was used
to visualize patterns of gene expression directly in living flies. A large number of Gal4 insertion lines were generated and
their expression patterns were studied. In addition to identifying several characterized developmental...
The homeotic gene abdominal-A (abd-A) is normally expressed in parasegments 7 to 13. We find that the initial distribution of the product is approximately uniform within this domain, but the subsequent elaboration of the expression pattern results in differences between, as well as within, parasegments. We have investigated the possible role of sev...
The normal expression of the homeotic gene Sex combs reduced (Scr) is initially restricted to parasegment 2, later extends to 3, and by germ band retraction extends further to part of parasegment 4 (T1p). We find that in the absence of the bithorax complex (BX-C) genes there is Scr expression in the epidermis of the posterior compartments of the th...
