THE EVOLUTION OF GENE INTERACTIONS THAT SHAPE THE ASYMMETRY OF THE FLOWER

A key problem in evolutionary biology is the understanding of how genetic pathways diversify to give rise to new morphologies. Dorsoventral asymmetry of flowers, a trait that has evolved multiple times independently, provides a good system to study how a pathway that is responsible for the establishment of a new trait has evolved. In Antirrhinum majus, dorsoventral asymmetry of the flower requires the combined activity of different genes: CYC, DICH, RAD, DIV and DRIF. We are currently analysing how these genes, all coding for transcription factors, interact to establish a basic asymmetric pre-pattern in the meristem of the flower, and exploring when the interactions between these proteins were established during the evolution of land plants.

Manuela Costa has a Biochemistry BSc by the University of Lisbon in 1993, PhD by the East Anglia University UK in 2000, post doc in Norwich (John Innes Center) and Edimburg, UK. In 2007 she joined, as a professor, the Biology Department at the University of Minho.

[Host: Herlander Azevedo, Plant Biology]

Image credits: Manuela Oliveira