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Flower strip tease

Updated: Nov 30, 2022

Flowers are beautiful to look at. They bloom and then fade away, petals falling to the ground. But how is all this orchestrated?


Plants shed their foliage by abscission. A new study published by Shelley Hepworth (Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada) and Véronique Pautot (Institute Jean Pierre Bourgin, Versailles, France) sheds light on how abscission zones (AZs) are structured. Read here.


Carleton students Jenny Crick and Laura Corrigan led this study!


In the study plant, Arabidopsis thaliana, floral organs drop from detachment points called abscission zones. Highly ordered in structure, two cell layers are formed in this zone: a lignified layer that acts a brace and a separation layer that produces enzymes that loosen cell walls so that organs fall. BLADE-ON-PETIOLE factors, needed for the initiation of abscission zones, have been known for years. But disrupting these factors blocks further steps, making it difficult to discover how the abscission zone forms into two distinct cell layers.

Our study identifies three homeodomain transcription factors whose combined activity play a crucial role. Loss of these factors disrupts the orderly structure of abscission zones and the production of enzymes, leading to loss of abscission. Their relationship with other key players was also explored, in particular INFLORECENCE DEFICIENT IN ABSCISSION, a small peptide that instructs cells to shed the organ.

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