An introduction to maize
development
Paula McSteen
Penn State
Maize vs Arabidopsis inflorescence
- single flower
- spikelet pair
- indeterminate
inflorescence
lateral
branches
secondary
inflorescences
last vegetative
leaf
rosette
leaves
MAI ZE TAS S E L
ARABI DOP S I S
McSteen et al TIPS 2000
Maize tassel inflorescence
spikelet pair
maize tassel
floret pair
Axillary meristem initiation during
inflorescence development
IM
AM
tassel
SEM 5 weeks
Axillary meristems arise
in the axil of bract leaf primordia
axillary meristem
bract leaf
Axillary meristems in maize
inflorescence development
Inflorescence meristem
Xianting Wu
Axillary meristems in maize
inflorescence development
Branch meristem
Axillary meristems in maize
inflorescence development
Branch meristem
Spikelet pair meristem
Axillary meristems in maize
inflorescence development
Inflorescence meristem
Branch meristem
Spikelet pair meristem
Spikelet meristem
Axillary meristems in maize
inflorescence development
Inflorescence meristem
Branch meristem
Spikelet pair meristem
Spikelet meristem
SEM can be used to determine
the origin of defects in mutants
bif2 fails to initiate axillary meristems
IM
AM
Normal
bif2 McSteen and Hake 2001
ba1 fails to produce axillary meristems
bract
primordia
Normal
ba1
adapted from Ritter et al 2002
spi1 fails to initiate axillary meristems
IM
AM
Normal
spi1
spi1 (later)
Gallavotti et al 2008
Hands on demonstration
- maize inflorescence dissection