A benchmark text, Developmental Genetics and Plant Evolution integrates the recent revolution in the molecular-developmental genetics of plants with mainstream evolutionary thought. It reflects the increasing cooperation between strongly genomics-influenced researchers, with their strong grasp of technology, and evolutionary morphogenetists and sys

The purpose of this book is to present classical plant development in modern, molecular-genetic terms. The study of plant development is rapidly changing as plant genome projects uncover a multitude of new genes. This book provides a framework for integrating gene discovery and genome analysis into the context of plant development. Molecular Genetics of Plant Development is designed to be used as a text-book for upper-division or graduate courses in plant development. The book will also serve as a reference book for scientists in the field of plant molecular biology or plant molecular genetics. The book is also useful for general development courses in which both animal and plant development are presented.

Petunia belongs to the family of the Solanaceae and as such is closely related to important crop species like tomato, potato, eggplant, pepper and tobacco. With around 35 species described it is one of the smaller genera and among those there are two groups of species that make up the majority of them: the purple flowered P.integrifolia group and the white flowered P.axillaris group. It is assumed that interspecific hybrids between members of these two groups have laid the foundation for the huge variation in cultivars as selected from the 1830’s onwards. Petunia thus has been a commercially important ornamental since the early days of horticulture. Despite that, Petunia was in use as a research model only parsimoniously until the late fifties of the last century. By then seed companies started to fund academic research, initially with the main aim to develop new color varieties. Besides a moment of glory around 1980 (being elected a promising model system, just prior to the Arabidopsis boom), Petunia has long been a system in the shadow. Up to the early eighties no more then five groups developed classical and biochemical genetics, almost exclusively on flower color genes. Then from the early eighties onward, interest has slowly been growing and nowadays some 20-25 academic groups around the world are using Petunia as their main model system for a variety of research purposes, while a number of smaller and larger companies are developing further new varieties. At present the system is gaining credibility for a number of reasons, a very important one being that it is now generally realized that only comparative biology will reveal the real roots of evolutionary development of processes like pollination syndromes, floral development, scent emission, seed survival strategies and the like. As a system to work with, Petunia combines advantages from several other model species: it is easy to grow, sets abundant seeds, while self- and cross pollination is easy; its lifecycle is four months from seed to seed; plants can be grown very densely, in 1 cm2 plugs and can be rescued easily upon flowering, which makes even huge selection plots easy to handle. Its flowers (and indeed leaves) are relatively large and thus obtaining biochemical samples is no problem. Moreover, transformation and regeneration from leaf disc or protoplast are long established and easy-to-perform procedures. On top of this easiness in culture, Petunia harbors an endogenous, very active transposable element system, which is being used to great advantage in both forward and reverse genetics screens. The virtues of Petunia as a model system have only partly been highlighted. In a first monograph, edited by K. Sink and published in 1984, the emphasis was mainly on taxonomy, morphology, classical and biochemical genetics, cytogenetics, physiology and a number of topical subjects. At that time, little molecular data was available. Taking into account that that first monograph will be offered electronically as a supplement in this upcoming edition, we would like to put the overall emphasis for the second edition on molecular developments and on comparative issues. To this end we propose the underneath set up, where chapters will be brief and topical. Each chapter will present the historical setting of its subject, the comparison with other systems (if available) and the unique progress as made in Petunia. We expect that the second edition of the Petunia monograph will draw a broad readership both in academia and industry and hope that it will contribute to a further expansion in research on this wonderful Solanaceae.

Current major interests in this area include the study of higher level phylogenetic relationships and character evolution in the angiosperms, floral evolution, the genetic basis of key floral differences in basal angiosperms, the genetic and genomic consequences of polyploid speciation, conservation genetics of rare plant species, and phylogeography. Developmental Genetics of the Flower provides a series of papers focused on the developmental genetics of flowering as well as the genetic control of the timing of flowering. Investigation of speciational mechanisms, evolutionary relationships, and character evolution in flowering plants and land plants utilizing a variety of experimental approaches are discussed. The chapters are excellent reviews of the current fast-moving area of research. - Provides a brief review of genes known to regulate flower development - Articles emphasize the classic ABC model of flower development

The study of plant development using molecular and genetic techniques is rapidly becoming one of the most active areas of research on flowering plants. Developmental Biology of Flowering Plants relates classical developmental work with the outstanding problems of the future in the study of plant development. An important feature of this book is the integration of results from molecular and genetic studies on various aspects of plant development in a cellular and physiological context.

Plant Development and Evolution, the latest release in the Current Topics in Developmental Biology series, highlights new advances in the field, with this new volume presenting interesting chapters on the Evolution of the plant body plan, Lateral root development and its role in evolutionary adaptation, the Development of the vascular system, the Development of the shoot apical meristem and phyllotaxis, the Evolution of leaf diversity, the Evolution of regulatory networks in land plants, The role of programed cell death in plant development, the Development and evolution of inflorescence architecture, the Molecular regulation of flower development, the Pre-meiotic another development, and much more. - Provides the authority and expertise of leading contributors from an international board of authors - Presents the latest release in the Current Topics in Developmental Biology series - Updated release includes the latest information on Plant Development and Evolution