ibclogo XVI International Botanical Congess


Abstract Number: 2404
Poster No. = 1621


ANALYSIS OF XCL, A MUTATION AFFECTING PLANES OF CELL DIVISION


Sharon Kessler and Neelima Sinha Section of Plant Biology, University of California-Davis


Studies of mutants defective cell patterning will help to elucidate the molecular mechanisms involved in the precise control of planes of cell division in the developing leaf. The maize Xcl (extra cell layers) mutation causes the production of extra cell layers below the blade epidermis. These extra cells have epidermal characteristics and appear to arise from aberrant periclinal divisions of the protoderm, suggesting that the XCL protein is involved in the determination of the plane of cell division. Xcl mutant leaves are twice as thick as wild-type leaves but only half as wide, indicating that a compensation mechanism is involved in the control of cell division during leaf morphogenesis. Analysis of double mutant combinations between Xcl and other cell division mutants are helping us to define the role of Xcl during leaf morphogenesis.


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