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Inflorescence Architecture and Development in Plants
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Inflorescence Architecture and Development in Plants

A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Development and Morphogenesis".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 July 2024) | Viewed by 7132

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Abelardo Carlos Vegetti

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Instituto de Ciencias Agropecuarias del Litoral, Universidad Nacional del Litoral, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas Y Técnicas, Kreder 2805, Esperanza, Santa Fe, Argentina
Interests: Inflorescence; development; morphology; anatomy; evolution
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Flowering plants show a significant variation in the structure of their inflorescences from very simple to very complex forms. The form and structure of the inflorescence is one of the most important trait in the characterization of species, their taxonomy and the evolution of the different groups of plants. In turn, it has a direct impact on the regulation of  fruit and seed number, affecting crop yields. Consequently, the inflorescence is one of the major organs in determining grain yield.

Mediated by endogenous and exogenous signals, the vegetative shoot apical meristem of any plant will stop the production of leaves, transforms into the inflorescence meristem (IM) and begin the inflorescence development. The inflorescence architecture depends on the activity of the IM that can directly generate floral meristems (FM) that will thus form a defined number of flowers on the main axis, or branch meristems (BM) that can generate a determined number of lateral branches; sequence that can be repeated one to several times. Finally, both the IM and the BMs can generate a terminal flower or end sterile.

The architecture of the inflorescence, therefore, is a consequence of the duration of the IM activity, the number of BM and FM generated and their arrangement.

Numerous investigations  has demonstrated the existence of numerous genes, signaling molecules and meristem identity factors that interact to regulate the activity of inflorescence meristems, many of which have been modified during the domestication of crops, directly affecting the yield traits of these crops.

In turn, different phylogenetic studies have shown that the combination of developmental and mature structure studies is essential, both to elucidate taxonomic aspects and to characterize larger inflorescence  morphological variability.

This Special Issue aims to publish scientific articles related to the development, structure, function, diversity and evolution of inflorescences. It would be essential on this subject to receive contributions from morphological/architectural, anatomical, ontogenic, physiological, taxonomic, phylogenetic, and genetic/molecular regulation studies.

The scope of this special issue is to offer an update on the knowledge about inflorescences and their relationship with the development of the whole plant. The discussion on this topic will make it possible to outline new lines of research that contribute to future prospectives.  All this will make it possible to deepen the understanding of the evolution of the branching systems of plants, especially at the level of their inflorescences as a way of contributing to the challenging task of manipulating inflorescence architecture for crop yield improvement.

Dr. Abelardo Carlos Vegetti
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Plants is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • inflorescence
  • development
  • morphology
  • anatomy
  • evolution
  • gene/molecular regulation
  • monopodial and sympodial branching
  • flower development
  • reproductive meristems

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Related Special Issue

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

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17 pages, 1141 KiB  
Article
Reproductive Morphology and Success in Annual versus Perennial Legumes: Evidence from Astragalus and the Fabeae (Papilionoideae)
by Andrey Sinjushin, Maria Ploshinskaya and Andrey Sytin
Plants 2024, 13(17), 2380; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants13172380 - 26 Aug 2024
Viewed by 552
Abstract
The third largest angiosperm family, Leguminosae, displays a broad range of reproductive strategies and has an exceptional practical value. Whereas annual legume species are mostly planted as crops, there is a significant interest in breeding and cultivating perennials. It is therefore of importance [...] Read more.
The third largest angiosperm family, Leguminosae, displays a broad range of reproductive strategies and has an exceptional practical value. Whereas annual legume species are mostly planted as crops, there is a significant interest in breeding and cultivating perennials. It is therefore of importance to compare reproductive traits, their interactions and the resulting productivity between related annual and perennial species. Two highly variable taxa were chosen for this purpose, the Fabeae tribe, including numerous temperate crops, and the largest angiosperm ‘megagenus’ Astragalus. A dataset of quantitative reproductive traits was composed of both originally obtained and previously published data. As a result of statistical analysis, we found that perennials in both groups tend to produce more flowers per axillary racemose inflorescence as well as more ovules per carpel. Perennial Astragalus also have larger flowers. Only a part of the developing flowers and ovules gives rise to mature pods and seeds. This difference is especially pronounced in small populations of rare and threatened perennials. Numerous reasons underlie the gap between potential and real productivity, which may be potentially bridged in optimal growing conditions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Inflorescence Architecture and Development in Plants)
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11 pages, 1893 KiB  
Article
Unique Jurassic Ovaries Shed a New Light on the Nature of Carpels
by Qiang Fu, Jie Sun, Shaolin Zheng and Xin Wang
Plants 2024, 13(16), 2239; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants13162239 - 12 Aug 2024
Viewed by 1149
Abstract
Enclosed ovules are a reproductive feature restricted to angiosperms. Although this feature can be used as a criterion for identifying fossil angiosperms, how ovules are enclosed and the nature of the placenta are still foci of debates. A reason underlying these controversies is [...] Read more.
Enclosed ovules are a reproductive feature restricted to angiosperms. Although this feature can be used as a criterion for identifying fossil angiosperms, how ovules are enclosed and the nature of the placenta are still foci of debates. A reason underlying these controversies is the lack of reproductive organ fossils shedding light on these issues. These controversies hinder a clear understanding of angiosperm evolution and systematics. Here, we report a new fossil ovary, Xenofructus dabuensis gen. et sp. nov, from the Middle Jurassic of Liaoning, China. Our fossil clearly demonstrates the existence of ovules in Xenofructus that has a free central placentation. This new feature implies that a placenta in angiosperm gynoecia is homologous to an ovule/seed-bearing axis, and free central placentation is one of the early developed placentations. This discovery is apparently at odds with the current understanding of placentation and its evolution. Apparently, the understanding of angiosperms and their gynoecia should be updated with newly available palaeobotanical data. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Inflorescence Architecture and Development in Plants)
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10 pages, 2764 KiB  
Communication
Shaolinia: A Fossil Link between Conifers and Angiosperms
by Xin Wang and Li-Jun Chen
Plants 2024, 13(15), 2162; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants13152162 - 5 Aug 2024
Viewed by 1563
Abstract
The flowering plants (angiosperms) are the dominant and defining group of the Earth ecosystems today. However, from which group and by what way flowers, especially their gynoecia (the key characteristic organs of angiosperms), are derived have been key questions in botany, and have [...] Read more.
The flowering plants (angiosperms) are the dominant and defining group of the Earth ecosystems today. However, from which group and by what way flowers, especially their gynoecia (the key characteristic organs of angiosperms), are derived have been key questions in botany, and have remained unanswered despite botanists’ efforts over centuries. Such an embarrassing situation can be attributed to the lack of plants with partially enclosed ovules, which are supposed fill a position between gymnosperms and angiosperms. Here, we report a fossil plant that has apparent coniferous vegetative and reproductive characters but has a single seed partially wrapped by the subtending bract. Such a morphology suggests that a carpel of some angiosperms is equivalent to a lateral appendage (a bract plus its axillary seed) of this fossil. Such a non-traditional interpretation of the homology of angiosperm carpels is compatible with various new progresses made in botany and is in line with Tomlinson’s recent hypothesis. Together with other fossil evidence reported recently, it appears that gynoecia in angiosperms are derived in multiple ways. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Inflorescence Architecture and Development in Plants)
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14 pages, 2270 KiB  
Article
A Novel Elucidation for Synflorescences of Chinese Bamboos
by Zhuo-Yu Cai and Nian-He Xia
Plants 2024, 13(1), 29; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants13010029 - 21 Dec 2023
Viewed by 979
Abstract
The objective of this work is to elucidate the flowering structures of Chinese bamboos applying the synflorescence concept. To keep in line with grasses, the bamboo synflorescence is defined as a whole culm or a whole branch terminating in an inflorescence. For the [...] Read more.
The objective of this work is to elucidate the flowering structures of Chinese bamboos applying the synflorescence concept. To keep in line with grasses, the bamboo synflorescence is defined as a whole culm or a whole branch terminating in an inflorescence. For the first time, the repetitive and fundamental unit of bamboo synflorescences is clearly identified and termed as the “basic flowering branch”. The basic flowering branch could be considered as the most simplified synflorescence for a bamboo species. Applying the synflorescence concept, the pseudospikelet is interpreted as a sort of basic flowering branch rather than a spikelet. Consequently, the synflorescence development pattern is consistent throughout the whole family. This study also marks the first recognition of both pseudospikelets and true spikelet flowering branches within the same bamboo synflorescence, which is observed in the genera Brachystachyum, Semiarundinaria and Menstruocalamus. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Inflorescence Architecture and Development in Plants)
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Review

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34 pages, 14590 KiB  
Review
Patterns of Carpel Structure, Development, and Evolution in Monocots
by Margarita V. Remizowa and Dmitry D. Sokoloff
Plants 2023, 12(24), 4138; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants12244138 - 12 Dec 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2423
Abstract
The phenomenon of heterochrony, or shifts in the relative timing of ontogenetic events, is important for understanding many aspects of plant evolution, including applied issues such as crop yield. In this paper, we review heterochronic shifts in the evolution of an important floral [...] Read more.
The phenomenon of heterochrony, or shifts in the relative timing of ontogenetic events, is important for understanding many aspects of plant evolution, including applied issues such as crop yield. In this paper, we review heterochronic shifts in the evolution of an important floral organ, the carpel. The carpels, being ovule-bearing organs, facilitate fertilisation, seed, and fruit formation. It is the carpel that provides the key character of flowering plants, angiospermy. In many angiosperms, a carpel has two zones: proximal ascidiate and distal plicate. When carpels are free (apocarpous gynoecium), the plicate zone has a ventral slit where carpel margins meet and fuse during ontogeny; the ascidiate zone is sac-like from inception and has no ventral slit. When carpels are united in a syncarpous gynoecium, a synascidiate zone has as many locules as carpels, whereas a symplicate zone is unilocular, at least early in ontogeny. In ontogeny, either the (syn)ascidiate or (sym)plicate zone is first to initiate. The two developmental patterns are called early and late peltation, respectively. In extreme cases, either the (sym)plicate or (syn)ascidiate zone is completely lacking. Here, we discuss the diversity of carpel structure and development in a well-defined clade of angiosperms, the monocotyledons. We conclude that the common ancestor of monocots had carpels with both zones and late peltation. This result was found irrespective of the use of the plastid or nuclear phylogeny. Early peltation generally correlates with ovules belonging to the (syn)ascidiate zone, whereas late peltation is found mostly in monocots with a fertile (sym)plicate zone. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Inflorescence Architecture and Development in Plants)
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