Walker, C.H. and Bennett, T. orcid.org/0000-0003-1612-4019 (2024) Cytokinin and reproductive shoot architecture: bigger and better? Biochemical Society Transactions. BST20231565. ISSN 0300-5127
Abstract
Cytokinin (CK) is a key plant hormone, but one whose effects are often misunderstood, partly due to reliance on older data from before the molecular genetic age of plant science. In this mini-review, we examine the role of CK in controlling the reproductive shoot architecture of flowering plants. We begin with a long overdue re-examination of the role of CK in shoot branching, and discuss the relatively paucity of genetic evidence that CK does play a major role in this process. We then examine the role of CK in determining the number of inflorescences, flowers, fruit and seed that plants initiate during reproductive development, and how these are arranged in space and time. The genetic evidence for a major role of CK in controlling these processes is much clearer, and CK has profound effects in boosting the size and number of most reproductive structures. Conversely, the attenuation of CK levels during the reproductive phase likely contributes to reduced organ size seen later in flowering, and the ultimate arrest of inflorescence meristems during end-of-flowering. We finish by discussing how this information can potentially be used to improve crop yields.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2024 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Keywords: | cytokinins, end-of-flowering, flowering, reproductive |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Biological Sciences (Leeds) > School of Biology (Leeds) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number BBSRC (Biotechnology & Biological Sciences Research Council) BB/X001423/1 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 22 Jul 2024 10:16 |
Last Modified: | 12 Aug 2024 11:18 |
Status: | Published online |
Publisher: | Portland Press |
Identification Number: | 10.1042/BST20231565 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:214975 |