Journal
GENETICS
Volume 202, Issue 4, Pages 1255-1265Publisher
GENETICS SOCIETY AMERICA
DOI: 10.1534/genetics.115.182964
Keywords
ABC model; basal angiosperms; evo-devo; fading borders model: floral diversity; flower evolution; Pentapetalae
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Funding
- Direct For Biological Sciences
- Division Of Environmental Biology [1457440] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
- Direct For Biological Sciences
- Division Of Environmental Biology [1455601] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
- Division Of Integrative Organismal Systems
- Direct For Biological Sciences [0922742] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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The origin of the flower was a key innovation in the history of complex organisms, dramatically altering Earth's biota. Advances in phylogenetics, developmental genetics, and genomics during the past 25 years have substantially advanced our understanding of the evolution of flowers, yet crucial aspects of floral evolution remain, such as the series of genetic and morphological changes that gave rise to the first flowers; the factors enabling the origin of the pentamerous eudicot flower, which characterizes approximate to 70% of all extant angiosperm species; and the role of gene and genome duplications in facilitating floral innovations. A key early concept was the ABC model of floral organ specification, developed by Elliott Meyerowitz and Enrico Coen and based on two model systems, Arabidopsis thaliana and Antirrhinum majus. Yet it is now clear that these model systems are highly derived species, whose molecular genetic-developmental organization must be very different from that of ancestral, as well as early, angiosperms. In this article, we will discuss how new research approaches are illuminating the early events in floral evolution and the prospects for further progress. In particular, advancing the next generation of research in floral evolution will require the development of one or more functional model systems from among the basal angiosperms and basal eudicots. More broadly, we urge the development of model clades for genomic and evolutionary-developmental analyses, instead of the primary use of single model organisms. We predict that new evolutionary models will soon emerge as genetic/genomic models, providing unprecedented new insights into floral evolution.
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