U.S.-Mexico Cooperative Research: Molecular Basis and Evolution of the Natural Homeotic Phenotype of Lancandonia Schismatica

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9724731 Meyerowitz This U.S-Mexico award will support Dr. Elliot Meyerowitz of the California Institute of Technology in collaboration with Dr. Elena Alvarez Buylla of the Instituto de Ecologia of the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM). The researchers intend to study the molecular basis and evolution of the plant, Lacandonia schismatica. Lacandonia is a unique endemic plant from Chiapas, Mexico, whose flower is the only known example of a functional spatial inversion of the reproductive whorls, that is, stamens in the central whorl and carpels in the third one. Dr. Meyerowitz has been a leader in developing models for the molecular mechanisms of flower development, models which have been corroborated by studies in other flowering plants, including Arabidopsis. The researchers now plan to establish the phylogenetic relationships by using rDNA sequences as sources of characters, to clone and structurally characterize the genes similar to the ABC genes of Arabidopsis and to test in other ways the similarity or differences in the genetic control of flower development in the two genera of plants. Because of its functional uniqueness, Lacandonia provides the necessary exception to the pattern of flowers in angiosperms for a rigorous testing of molecular models. The two laboratories have complementary skills: the U.S. lab provides the expertise in molecular technology, while the Mexican lab brings to the collaboration its expertise in phylogenetic and population biology. ***