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Journal of Experimental Botany, Vol. 66, No. 23, pp. 9–10, 2015 doi:10.1093/jxb/erv072 SUPPLEMENT PAPER My favourite flowering image: floral organs with trichomes Frank Wellmer*, Darragh Stewart and Diarmuid S. O’Maoileidigh Smurfit Institute of Genetics, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland * To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: [email protected] Received 20 January 2015; Accepted 28 January 2015 Abstract There is now ample genetic evidence that floral organs are in essence modified leaves, and that floral organ identity factors are instrumental in the conversion of leaves into floral organs. This idea is exemplified by flowers of Arabidopsis thaliana that form trichomes on reproductive floral organs as a consequence of a perturbation of the activity of floral organ identity factors. In 1790, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe published his seminal essay Metamorphosis of Plants in which he proposed that the above-ground organs of a plant are derived (‘metamorphosed’) from leaves (von Goethe, 1790). Over the years, much experimental support for this idea has been garnered, at least for flowers. When the floral organ identity genes were discovered and studied through genetic analysis, it was found that the combined loss of several of these genes led to flowers in which floral organs were replaced by leaf-like structures (Bowman et al., 1991). Also, it has been reported that the ectopic expression of specific combinations of floral organ identity genes leads to the transformation of rosette or cauline leaves into specific floral organ types (Honma and Goto, 2001; Pelaz et al., 2001). Thus, these genes are clearly necessary and sufficient for the conversion of leaves into floral organs. The molecular mechanisms underlying the activity of the transcription factors, which are encoded by the floral organ identity genes, have long remained enigmatic. However, in recent years, the use of transcriptomics experiments and genome-wide localization studies led to first detailed and global insights into their functions (Gomez-Mena et al., 2005; Ito et al., 2004; Kaufmann et al., 2009; Kaufmann et al., 2010; O Maoileidigh et al., 2013; Pajoro et al., 2014; Wellmer et al., 2006; Wuest et al., 2012; Yant et al., 2010). One of the key findings of this work was that target genes of the floral organ identity factors are highly enriched for genes with regulatory functions. These include genes that code for microRNAs, transcription factors and for other regulatory proteins. Many of these regulatory genes had been previously identified through genetic screens to play important roles during flower formation. However, there are notable exceptions. When we studied the activities of the floral organ identity factors APETALA3, PISTILLATA and AGAMOUS (AG), we found that several known regulators of leaf development were among the direct targets (O Maoileidigh et al., 2013; Wuest et al., 2012). These included genes involved in the formation of trichomes, which in Arabidopsis are mainly present on leaves and on the inflorescence stem. We then asked whether the floral organ identity factors are involved in directly repressing trichome formation on floral organs, which – with the exception of sepals - are trichomeless. Indeed, when we perturbed the activity of AG using an artificial microRNA approach, we found that trichomes started to form on the valves of carpels (O Maoileidigh et al., 2013) . This effect was exacerbated when we conducted the knockdown of AG in a background in which the repressor of trichome formation, TRIPTYCHON, is mutated (Figure 1). These results show that one key feature of leaf development is directly repressed by a floral organ identity factor. Whether other aspects of leaf morphogenesis are also directly modified or suppressed by these transcription factors is currently unknown, but the number of regulators of leaf development that act downstream of the floral organ identity factors make this rather likely in our opinion. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Experimental Biology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: [email protected] 10 | Wellmer et al. Fig. 1. A flower of a triptychon mutant, in which AG activity has been perturbed through an artificial microRNA at intermediate stages of development. Trichomes are forming on carpel valves. Sepals and petals have been removed for better visibility of the reproductive floral organs. References Bowman JL, Smyth DR, Meyerowitz EM. 1991. Genetic interactions among floral homeotic genes of Arabidopsis. Development 112, 1–20. Gomez-Mena C, de Folter S, Costa MM, Angenent GC, Sablowski R. 2005. Transcriptional program controlled by the floral homeotic gene AGAMOUS during early organogenesis. Development 132, 429–438. Honma T, Goto K. 2001. Complexes of MADS-box proteins are sufficient to convert leaves into floral organs. Nature 409, 525–529. Ito T, Wellmer F, Yu H, Das P, Ito N, Alves-Ferreira M, Riechmann JL, Meyerowitz EM. 2004. The homeotic protein AGAMOUS controls microsporogenesis by regulation of SPOROCYTELESS. Nature 430, 356–360. Kaufmann K, Muino JM, Jauregui R, Airoldi CA, Smaczniak C, Krajewski P, Angenent GC. 2009. Target genes of the MADS transcription factor SEPALLATA3: integration of developmental and hormonal pathways in the Arabidopsis flower. PLoS Biology 7, e1000090. Kaufmann K, Wellmer F, Muino JM, Ferrier T, Wuest SE, Kumar V, Serrano-Mislata A, Madueno F, Krajewski P, Meyerowitz EM, Angenent GC, Riechmann JL. 2010. Orchestration of floral initiation by APETALA1. Science 328, 85–89. O Maoileidigh DS, Wuest SE, Rae L, Raganelli A, Ryan PT, Kwasniewska K, Das P, Lohan AJ, Loftus B, Graciet E, Wellmer F. 2013. Control of reproductive floral organ identity specification in Arabidopsis by the C function regulator AGAMOUS. The Plant Cell 25, 2482–2503. Pajoro A, Madrigal P, Muino JM, Matus JT, Jin J, Mecchia MA, Debernardi JM, Palatnik JF, Balazadeh S, Arif M, O’Maoileidigh DS, Wellmer F, Krajewski P, Riechmann JL, Angenent GC, Kaufmann K. 2014. Dynamics of chromatin accessibility and gene regulation by MADSdomain transcription factors in flower development. Genome Biology 15, R41. Pelaz S, Tapia-Lopez R, Alvarez-Buylla ER, Yanofsky MF. 2001. Conversion of leaves into petals in Arabidopsis. Current Biology 11, 182–184. von Goethe JW. 1790. Versuch die Metamorphose der Pflanzen zu erklären . Gotha, Germany: Ettinger. Wellmer F, Alves-Ferreira M, Dubois A, Riechmann JL, Meyerowitz EM. 2006. Genome-wide analysis of gene expression during early Arabidopsis flower development. PLoS Genetics 2, e117. Wuest SE, O’Maoileidigh DS, Rae L, Kwasniewska K, Raganelli A, Hanczaryk K, Lohan AJ, Loftus B, Graciet E, Wellmer F. 2012. Molecular basis for the specification of floral organs by APETALA3 and PISTILLATA. Procedings of the National Academy of Sciences U S A 109, 13452–13457. Yant L, Mathieu J, Dinh TT, Ott F, Lanz C, Wollmann H, Chen X, Schmid M. 2010. Orchestration of the floral transition and floral development in Arabidopsis by the bifunctional transcription factor APETALA2. The Plant Cell 22, 2156–2170.