A central goal for plant breeders is to increase crop efficiency and yields. Many of the agricultural foods and products used by people are produced as a result of developmental processes that occur during flowering. Specifying flowers involves the integration of environmental and internal floral promoting cues at the apex of the growing shoot. To date, little is known about the molecular mechanisms that integrate the floral inductive cues that specify flowers. The intellectual merit of this proposed research is to understand how the shoot apex produces flowers in response to environmental and hormonal cues. Biochemical and proteomic approaches are being utilized to identify and characterize a key homeodomain transcriptional complex, which integrates floral inductive cues at the shoot apex to specify flowers during reproductive development. Insights into molecular mechanisms that specify flowers will lead to a better understanding of how the shoot apex responds to environmental signals. This is especially important for sessile organisms, such as plants, that must coordinate developmental processes with environment conditions. The long-term goal of this research is to provide the necessary framework for breeders to regulate flowering in crops (as well as in horticultural plants) and thereby to improve efficiency and enhance yields. The knowledge gleaned from this research can also be applied to induce early flowering in agronomical trees to promote efficient breeding programs used for biomass production. Underrepresented minority students will participate in this research project and will gain research experience and scientific training. This training will facilitate recruitment of underrepresented students into research programs in plant biology. This outreach program will also help underrepresented students transition from two year degree-granting institutions to the University of California, Riverside.
