EMF, AN ARABIDOPSIS GENE REQUIRED FOR VEGETATIVE SHOOT DEVELOPMENT

In higher plants, the transition from the vegetative to the reproductive state in the shoot meristem initiates flowering. To study this floral transition, a constitutively flowering mutant of Arabidopsis thaliana ecotype columbia, embryonic flower (emf), was characterized. No vegetative shoots were produced from emf embryos or calli; the shoot apical meristems (SAMs) in the emf embryos were altered compared to wild-type SAMs. The mutant SAMs enlarged precociously and produced inflorescence meristems upon germination. These results suggest that the dominant, wild-type allele EMF is required for the vegetative state of the SAM. In the absence of EMF function, the mutant embryo assumes the reproductive state.