Host: The Japanese Society of Plant Physiologists
Pages 023
The regulation of floral organ number is closely associated with floral meristem size. Although molecular genetic mechanisms that regulate maintenance of the meristems have been well studied in Arabidopsis, the regulation of such events in monocots is poorly understood. To elucidate the mechanism of meristem maintenance in monocots, we have been studying the function of FLORAL ORGAN NUMBER1 (FON1) and FON2 genes in rice. A mutation in either fon1 or fon2 cause an enlargement of the floral meristem size, resulting in an increase in the number of floral organs. We have already reported that FON1 encodes LRR type receptor-like kinase that orthologous to Arabidopsis CLAVATA1 (Suzaki et al. Development 131:5649-5657, 2004). Here, we report the isolation of FON2 and its function. Taken together the previous finding about FON1, the results obtained here strongly supported the idea CLAVATA signaling system regulating floral meristem maintenance is conserved in the grass family
