Journal
JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BOTANY
Volume 70, Issue 10, Pages 2615-2622Publisher
OXFORD UNIV PRESS
DOI: 10.1093/jxb/erz106
Keywords
ABC model; ancestral character state reconstruction; flower development; flowering plants; gene regulatory network evolution; paleobotany; phyllotaxis
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The origin of the angiosperm flower is a long-standing problem of botany and evolutionary biology. One widely accepted milestone towards solving it is the reconstruction of the ancestral flower of extant angiosperms, here termed 'AFEA'. A recent approach employing novel methods gave results that were not anticipated. Most notably the reconstructed phyllotaxis of AFEA soon was criticized and sparked a heated debate in the literature. To better explain, clarify, and perhaps cool the debate, we first summarize the results of previous attempts to reconstruct AFEA and contrast them with the more recent, controversial prediction of its structure. We then outline the major arguments made by contrasting parties in the recent debate. Finally, we discuss two key topics, the molecular mechanism of phyllotaxis and the role of gene regulatory networks during flower development and evolution, that may help to clarify the issue in the intermediate future.
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