email: b.h.davies@leeds.ac.uk
Plant Development Laboratory
Unlike animals, plants develop continuously in response
to their environment. This developmental plasticity comes
about,
at least partly, because plant organs are constantly produced
from a pool of undifferentiated stem cells which is found
at the tip of the shoot. Plants need to accomplish at
least three
things to convert undifferentiated cells in this pool into
lateral organs such as leaves and petals. Firstly the pool
of stem cells needs to be able to maintain itself, so that
the rate of generation of new stem cells is equal to the
rate of differentiation of the old cells. Secondly the
position
of the newly formed organ needs to be defined and its boundaries
established. Finally the newly developing organ needs to
adopt a specific tissue and cell identity - the cells
need to know
whether they are to become hairs or stomata, petals or ovules.
Using
the model plants Antirrhinum and Arabidopsis we are
investigating the mechanisms controlling these developmental
changes. We
use a combination of genetics, using mutants in which these
processes are disrupted, and molecular biology, to identify
genes which act within these processes.
The following projects
are being followed in the laboratory:
Analysis of genes controlling stem cell maintenance, lateral
organ boundaries and organ identity.
Functional analysis
of the MADS-box family of transcription factors in Arabidopsis
and Antirrhinum.
Signalling to the cytoskeleton and its
organisation (a collaboration with Prof. Patrick Hussey,
Durham).
Comparative genome oganisation in Arabidopsis
and Antirrhinum.
Nonsense mediated mRNA decay in plants.
Recent
Publications
Causier, B., Bradley, D., Cook,
H. and Davies, B.
(2008). Conserved intragenic
elements were critical for the evolution of the floral
C-function. The Plant Journal
In press.
Li, J., Webster, M., Dudas, B.,
Cook, H., Manfield, I., Davies, B., Gilmartin, P.M.
(2008). The S locus-linked
Primula homeotic mutant sepaloid shows characteristics
of a B-function mutant but does not result from mutation
in a B-function gene. The Plant Journal 56:1-12.
Arciga-Reyes,
L., Wootton, L., Kieffer, M. and Davies, B
.(2006). UPF1 is required for nonsense-mediated
mRNA decay (NMD) and RNAi in Arabidopsis .
The Plant Journal 47: 480-489.
Davies,
B., Cartolano, M. and Schwarz-Sommer, Zs. (2006)
Flower Development: the Antirrhinum Perspective.
Advances in Botanical Research 44: 277-319.
Kieffer, M., Stern, Y., Cook, H.,
Clerici, E., Maulbetsch, C., Laux, T., Davies,
B. (2006).
Analysis of WUSCHEL and its functional homologue in
Antirrhinum reveals a potential mechanism
for their roles in meristem maintenance. Plant Cell
18: 560-573.
Deeks, M.J., Cvrcková, F.,
Machesky, L. M., Mikitová, V., Ketelaar, T.,
Zársky, V., Davies, B. and Hussey, P. J. (2005)
Arabidopsis group Ie formins
localize to specific cell membrane domains, interact
with actin-binding proteins and cause defects in cell
expansion upon aberrant expression. New
Phytologist 168: 529-540.
Causier B, Castillo
R, Zhou J, Ingram R, Xue Y, Schwarz-Sommer Z, Davies,
B (2005) Evolution in action: following function
in duplicated floral homeotic genes. Current
Biology 15:1508-1512.
de Folter S, Immink
RG, Kieffer M, Parenicova L, Henz SR, Weigel D, Busscher
M, Kooiker M, Colombo L, Kater MM, Davies, B, Angenent
GC (2005) Comprehensive interaction map of the
Arabidopsis MADS Box transcription factors. Plant
Cell 17:1424-1433.
Deeks, M.J., Kaloriti,
D., Davies, B., Malho, R., Hussey, P.J. (2004)
Arabidopsis
NAP1
Is Essential for Arp2/3-Dependent
Trichome
Morphogenesis. Current
Biology 14: 1410-1414.
Weir, I., Lu, J.,
Cook, H., Causier, B., Schwarz-Sommer, Zs., Davies,
B. (2004) CUPULIFORMIS establishes lateral organ
boundaries in Antirrhinum. Development
131: 915-922.
Causier, B., Cook, H.,
Davies, B. (2003) An Antirrhinum ternary complex
factor specifically interacts with C-function and SEPALLATA-like
MADS-box factors. Plant Molecular
Biology 52: 1051-1062.
Schwarz-Sommer, Zs., Davies,
B., Hudson, A. (2003) An everlasting pioneer:
the story of Antirrhinum research. Nature
Reviews Genetics 4: 655-664.
Parenicova, L., de Folter,
S., Kieffer, M., Horner, D., Favalli, C., Busscher,
J., Cook, H., Ingram, R., Kater, M., Davies, B., Angenent,
G., Colombo L. (2003) Molecular and Phylogenetic
Analyses of the Complete MADS-Box Transcription Factor
Family in Arabidopsis: New Openings to the MADS World.
Plant Cell 15: 1538-1551.
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