Epidermal specification mutants of Arabidopsis

有机体的发育需要特化组织的连续产生。植物表皮是一个特别有趣的组织，因为它是最早建立的组织之一，但它在植物的整个生命过程中继续分化，经历专门化以吸收营养，优化光合产量，并确保繁殖成功。本研究的目的是确定所需的分子的表皮的最初形成，后来的一套专门的表皮类型，胚珠珠被的发展。该方法将通过突变来鉴定（1）表皮表达的报告基因在胚胎中正确定位所需的基因，以及（2）通过筛选干扰种子形状和粘液产生的突变体来鉴定珠被特化所需的基因。突变体的特点是他们的作用，在几个表皮图案的决定，和最有趣的克隆。通过分析这些突变获得的信息将提示组织启动，扩展和保持其身份的方式。这些信息可能揭示了其他组织类型的建立所共有的调节回路，或者它可能表明表皮具有独特的发育模式，这些模式与其作为植物与外部世界之间的界面的功能作用有关。对于作物植物的改良，关于表皮的知识对于植物防御的理解和工程以及植物生物材料的生产特别相关。

Development of an organism requires the successive generation of specialized tissues. The plant epidermis is a particularly interesting tissue because it one of the first to be established, yet it continues to differentiate throughout the life of the plant, undergoing specialization to take up nutrients, optimize photosynthetic yields, and ensure reproductive success. The objective of this study is to identify molecules required for the initial formation of the epidermis and later for the development of one set of specialized epidermal types, the ovule integuments. The approach will be to identify, by mutation, (1) genes that are required for the correct localization of an epidermally-expressed reporter gene in the embryo, and (2) genes required for the specification of the integuments by screening for mutants that disturb seed shape and mucilage production. The mutants will be characterized with respect to their role in several epidermal patterning decisions, and the most interesting ones cloned. The information garnered by the analysis of these mutations will suggest ways in which a tissue initiates, expands and maintains its identity. This information may reveal regulatory circuits that are common to the establishment of other tissue types, or it may show that the epidermis has unique developmental patterns that relate to its functional role as the interface between the plant and the outside world. For the improvement of crop plants, knowledge about the epidermis is particularly relevant for the understanding and engineering of plant defenses and for production of plant biomaterials.