Elucidation of the Regulatory Pathway of Ovule Morphogenesis

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9507157 Gasser The ovules of higher plants play a central role in plant reproduction. In addition, because ovules are the precursors to seeds, ovule development is a critical component of crop productivity. Ovule development includes processes which typify development in all multicellular organisms and can be used as a model for studying fundamental mechanisms regulating morphogenesis and tissue differentiation in all organisms. Dr. Gasser will use Arabidopsis thaliana as a model organism for elucidation of the genetic pathway regulating ovule development. The primary tool in this analysis will be a set of mutants with defects in genes which regulate this process. He has already isolated five such mutants with specific lesions in ovule development and will continue to add to this set through ongoing mutant screens. He will determine the specific phenotypic effects of these mutations and will characterize their interactions through epistatic analyses. The results of these studies will allow identification of critical regulatory steps in ovule morphogenesis and will enable the construction of models of the regulatory pathway governing ovule development. Completion of the proposed research will significantly contribute to our knowledge of regulation of reproductive development in higher plants and to a general understanding of genetic control of morphogenesis and histogenesis that can be applicable to all organisms. ***