Mosaic Analysis of Floral Homeotic Genes in Arabidopsis

植物的形态发生依赖于茎尖分生组织中细胞的持续增殖和分化。在多种信号的作用下，茎尖分生组织中的细胞从营养生长转变为花生长。这种转换伴随着许多形态和生化变化，导致器官起始模式和形成器官类型的变化。此外，细胞间信号似乎是建立花的模式所必需的。爱尔兰博士建议通过描述一些关键基因来研究拟南芥的这些过程，这些基因是建立器官发生的花模式和特定组织特性所必需的。她将采取两种方法来解决这些问题。通过使用分子和遗传技术，她希望通过定义指定花形态发生的第一步所需的新基因来阐明涉及建立花模式的途径。此外，她还提出了克隆分析实验，旨在测试先前表征突变的细胞自主性，这使她能够定义参与花模式发育所需的细胞-细胞信号传导机制的基因产物。

Plant morphogenesis relies on the continued proliferation and differentiation of cells derived from the shoot apical meristem. In response to a variety of signals, cells in the shoot apical meristem convert from vegetative to floral growth. This switch is accompanied by a number of morphological and biochemical changes, resulting in a change in the pattern of organ initiation and the type of organ that is formed. In addition, intercellular signals appear to be required for establishing the floral pattern. Dr. Irish proposes to investigate these processes in Arabidopsis by characterizing some of the key genes required for establishing both the floral pattern of organogenesis and specific tissue identities. She will take two approaches to address these problems. By using both molecular and genetic techniques, she hopes to clarify the pathway(s) involved in establishing the floral pattern by defining new genes required to specify the first steps in floral morphogenesis. In addition she proposes clonal analysis experiments aimed at testing the cellular autonomy of previously characterized mutations, which allow her to define the gene products involved in cell-cell signalling mechanisms required for the development of the floral pattern.