#PhDart — Flower Development Matters

Flowering plants are plants that make flowers. They are the most diverse group of land plants and one of the most successful groups of organisms on the planet, which can be found in practically every conceivable habitat. Although we see an enormous diversity of floral morphologies in nature, all flowers started out from a simple dome of cells, and most flowers are only composed of four different organ types: sepal, petal, stamen, and carpel. Therefore, the seemingly infinite variety of floral forms is generated mainly by variation in the number, arrangement, identity, and elaboration of the organs. For centuries, numerous naturalists devoted their careers to classifying the patterns and organizations in flowers, and identifying the sources that generated the diversity, but it was only until about 30 years ago, the developmental genetic basis for this variability started to be unveiled. The field of flower development investigates the molecular basis of every step in making a flower: what are the genes controlling the steps, what are their specific functions, and how do they interact? So far, we have a good idea of some major aspects in flower development, such as what genes determine different floral organ identities and what genes control organ colors, but for many other important aspects, we are just beginning to explore. Understanding of flower development is of significant importance to us, as human life depends to a large extent on the fruits and seeds that flowers produce. What’s more, it’s just simply exciting to know what generated the diversity of flowers in nature, as our appreciation of flowers can be probably dated back to the earliest days of civilization — flowers just appeal to the aesthetics in us, and we want to understand them.