Interdepartmental Plant Biology 2025 Spring Student Seminar Series (PLBIO 6960) 

Presentation:

Maize erebs and other phyllotaxy pathways

Abstract:

Regular patterned leaf initiation at the shoot apical meristem (SAM), or phyllotaxy, determines a plant's arrangement of leaves around a stem. In maize, leaves are initiated successively on alternating sides of the plant, offset by 180°. Among all plants, few mutants have been identified that influence phyllotaxy wherein leaves are instead initiated on opposite sides of the plant in pairs offset by 90°, however this phenotype is lost upon introgression into standard inbred lines. Reminiscent of this phenotype, mutants in the transcription factor erb130 also have Iisordered phyllotaxy, which is further enhance in higher-order mutants with related erb transcription factors. This suggest these erebs are central to control of phyllotactic patterning in maize, hypothetically acting redundantly in an "ereb" pathway. Preliminary analysis suggests this pathway is independent of abph1, now implicating at least two potential ways phyllotaxy can be altered in maize. To continue to explore the genetics underlying phyllotactic patterning, I have employed RNA-seq and network analysis to identify candidate genes for future phenotyping. By broadening our understanding of the genes involved in leaf initiation, we might one day be able to module leaf and plant architecture for agronomic purposes. 

Presenter: Lander Geadelmann

Vollbrecht Lab
Department of Genetics, Development, and Cell Biology

Lander received his B.S. in Biology from the University of Iowa and joined Dr. Erik Vollbrecht's lab at Iowa State University in 2019. Lander's current project on maize phyllotaxy aims to integrate and connect morphology, gene expression, and genetic diversity in studying this phenotype that is highly buffered and naturally invariable in maize. 

Geadelmann Seminar Flyer (PDF)