Floral development in Arabidopsis thaliana: a comparison of the wild type and the homeotic pistillata mutant

Abstract

Homeosis is sometimes defined as the replacement of one member of a meristic series by another member normally formed in a different position. The pistillata floral mutant of Arabidopsis thaliana (Brassicaceae) has petals replaced by sepal-like organs ("petals"), is male sterile, and has abnormal gynoecial development. We compared the ontogeny of wild type and pistillata flowers to determine the developmental basis for their divergent final forms. Normal sepal development in wild type pistillata flowers is indistinguishable in terms of initiation events, anatomical and morphological development, and allometric growth. Wild type petals and pistillata "petals" are initially ontogenetically similar in these same respects. The first observable difference between the two floral forms is abnormal patterns of cell division in pistillata at stamen inception. Tissues in the normal position of the androecium appear congenitally fused to the gynoecium to various extents and differentiate gynoecial cell fates. Form divergence between wild type petals and pistillata "petals" becomes evident when these organs reach 90 μm in length, after androecial developmental divergence has occurred. Pistillata does not have petals replaced by sepals; pistillata "petals" are intermediate in form between wild type sepals and petals because of the developmental switching of petal primordia into the ontogenetic pattern characteristic of wild type sepals after petal primordia are initiated.