CONTROL OF FLOWER DEVELOPMENT AND PHYLLOTAXY BY MERISTEM IDENTITY GENES IN ANTIRRHINUM

The flower meristem identity genes floricaula (flo) and squamosa (squa ) promote a change in phyllotaxy from spiral to whorled in Antirrhinum , To determine how this might be achieved, we have performed a combina tion of morphological, genetic, and expression analyses, Comparison of the phenotypes and RNA expression patterns of single and double mutan ts with the wild type showed that flo and squa act together to promote flower development but that flo is epistatic to squa with respect to early effects on phyllotaxy, We propose that a common process underlie s the phyllotaxy of wildtype, flo, and squa meristem development but t hat the relative timing of primordium initiation or growth is altered, This process depends on two separable events: setting aside zones for potential primordium initiation and partitioning these zones into dis crete primordia, Failure of the second event can lead to the formation of continuous double spirals, which are occasionally seen in flo muta nts.