Abstract
The shoot meristem in higher plants plays a central role in generating shoot organs throughout the lifecycle. Initiation of shoot meristem generally occurs at the cotyledon or leaf axils, which correspond to the adaxial boundary of these shoot organs, showing tight correlation between the site of meristem initiation and organ boundary formation. In Arabidopsis, CUC1, CUC2 and CUC3 encoding NAC transcription factors are expressed at the boundary of various shoot organs and are required for shoot meristem initiation and organ separation. To investigate the mechanism of boundary formation, we identified a number of downstream genes whose expression was positively regulated by CUC1 and CUC2. Functional analysis of these downstream genes will be presented. We also present the role of CUC genes in the medial ridge, a meristematic tissue that plays a critical role in reproductive organ formation at the carpel boundary of the gynoecium.
