Review
Version 1
This version is not peer-reviewed
Then There were Plenty – Ring Meristems Giving Rise to Many Stamen Whorls
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Version 1
: Received: 11 May 2021 / Approved: 12 May 2021 / Online: 12 May 2021 (10:49:13 CEST)
A peer-reviewed article of this Preprint also exists.
Kong, D.; Becker, A. Then There Were Plenty-Ring Meristems Giving Rise to Many Stamen Whorls. Plants 2021, 10, 1140. Kong, D.; Becker, A. Then There Were Plenty-Ring Meristems Giving Rise to Many Stamen Whorls. Plants 2021, 10, 1140.
Abstract
Floral meristems are dynamic systems that generate floral organ primordia at their flanks and, in most species, terminate while giving rise to the gynoecium primordia. However, we find species with floral meristems that generate additional ring meristems repeatedly throughout angiosperm history. Ring meristems produce only stamen primordia, resulting in polystemous flowers (having stamen numbers more than double that of petals or sepals), and act independently of the floral meristem activity. Most of our knowledge on floral meristem regulation is derived from molecular genetic studies of Arabidopsis thaliana, a species with a fixed number of floral organs and as such of only limited value to understand ring meristem function, regulation, and ecological value. This review provides an overview of the main molecular players regulating floral meristem activity in A. thaliana, and summarizes our knowledge of ring primordia morphology and occurrence in dicots. Our work provides a first step towards understanding the significance and molecular genetics of ring meristem regulation and evolution.
Keywords
floral meristem; polystemony; numerous stamens; evo-devo; ring meristem
Subject
Biology and Life Sciences, Anatomy and Physiology
Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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