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First published online August 13, 2009; doi:10.3732/ajb.0800388
American Journal of Botany 96: 1594-1602 (2009)
© 2009 Botanical Society of America, Inc.
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Developmental Biology and Developmental Genetics

The filifolium1 mutation perturbs shoot architecture in Zea mays (Poaceae)1

E. Anne Mellor2 and Jane A. Langdale3

Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3RB, UK

ABSTRACT

Plant architecture is elaborated through the activity of shoot apical meristems (SAMs), which produce repeating units known as phytomers, that are comprised of leaf, node, internode, and axillary bud. Insight into how SAMs function and how individual phytomer components are related to each other can been obtained through characterization of recessive mutants with perturbed shoot development. In this study, we characterized a new mutant to further understand mechanisms underlying shoot development in maize. The filifolium1-0 (ffm1-0) mutants develop narrow leaves on dwarfed shoots. Shoot growth often terminates at the seedling stage from depletion of the SAM, but if plants survive to maturity they are invariably bushy. KN1-like homeobox (KNOX) proteins are inappropriately regulated in mutant apices, adaxial identity is not specified in mutant leaves, and axillary meristems develop precociously. We propose that FFM1 acts to demarcate zones within the SAM so that appropriate fates can be conferred on cells within those zones by other factors. On the basis of the mutant phenotype, we also speculate about different relationships between phytomer components in maize and Arabidopsis.

Key Words: axillary • maize • meristems • leaves • phytomer • Poaceae • polarity • Zea mays

Received for publication 20 November 2008. Accepted for publication 29 April 2009.

FOOTNOTES

1 The authors thank A. Barkan for the gift of ffm1-0 seed, M. Timmermans, and M. Scanlon for ongoing discussions about leaf polarity in maize. This work was funded by a grant from the Gatsby Charitable Foundation to J.A.L. E.A.M. received a BBSRC postgraduate studentship.

2 Present affiliation: Dept. Clinical Pharmacology, University of Oxford

3 Author for correspondence (e-mail: jane.langdale{at}plants.ox.ac.uk)


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