Flowering and Fertility: beyond the MADS-box genes

Since their discovery in plants, over a decade ago, the study of MADS-box genes has made a major contribution to our current understanding of flower development at the level of organogenesis. Less well understood, however, remain the molecular genetic mechanisms involved in differentiation at the cellular level within these floral organs. In particular, how the cell lineages giving rise to the sex cells, in a process known as sporogenesis, become specified within the anthers and ovules is not well understood. As an unexpected outcome of our research on MADS-box genes, we uncovered a novel and plant specific family of transcription factors and found one of its members to control the process of sporogenesis. Its future analysis may contribute to a better understanding of sexual reproduction of plants.