Abstract
Cell division and cell expansion have particular importance for developmental process of stem elongation. The receptor-like kinase ERECTA (ER) regulates the inflorescence architecture by affecting cell proliferation of the internodes and pedicels in Arabidopsis. To gain insight into inflorescence development, we have isolated CORYMBOSA1 (CRM1) gene. crm1-1 displays a compact inflorescence due to reduced cell elongation of internodes and pedicels. Double mutants of crm1-1 with er and crm2 show additive phenotype, suggesting that CRM1, ER, and CRM2 promote inflorescence growth via independent pathways. Fine mapping and allelism test confirmed that crm1-1 is allelic to doc1, and is caused by mutation in BIG, which is required for normal auxin transport. In order to investigate the requirement of regions for BIG function in vivo, an allelic series of big mutations, named reduced lateral root formation (rlr), is characterized. Further characterization of the phenotypes of rlr mutants is in progress.
