TRANSPOSON INDUCED CHIMERAS SHOW THAT FLORICAULA, A MERISTEM IDENTITYGENE, ACTS NON-AUTONOMOUSLY BETWEEN CELL-LAYERS

Flower meristems comprise several distinct cell layers, To understand the role of cell interactions between and within these layers, we have generated plants chimeric for a key floral homeotic gene, floricaula (flo). These chimeras arose in Antirrhinum by excision of a transposon , restoring po gene function. Activity of flo in a subset of cell laye rs gives fertile flowers with an abnormal morphology. This shows that flo can act non-autonomously between layers, although some aspects of its function are impaired. In addition, we show that flo exhibits some cell-autonomy within layers.