Abstract
Initiation of lateral meristems is indispensable for plant development. To elucidate underlying molecular genetic mechanisms, we analyzed a relationship between two transcription factors, MOC1 and LAX.
In the moc1 mutant, initiation of panicle branches and tillers are partially suppressed, and defects are observed only in the panicle branching in the lax mutant. On the contrary, initiation of all lateral meristems is completely suppressed in the moc1 lax double mutant. The microarray analysis enabled us to find out common downstream factors for MOC1 and LAX. These two genes are expressed in and around cells where lateral meristems arise during reproductive and vegetative phase. By in situ hybridization, we found that MOC1 expression in lax was normal whereas LAX expression in moc1 was suppressed in the vegetative phase. These results suggest that MOC1 and LAX act independently in the reproductive phase, and MOC1 regulates LAX in the vegetative phase.
