1995 top ten

egrunden at prairienet.org (Eric Grunden) writes:
>In a previous article, dh321 at PGSTUMAIL.PG.CC.MD.US ("David R. Hershey") says:
>>What plant biology discoveries or events would you include among the ten
>>most notable for 1995?
> *******
>I don't remember the details, but didn't someone discover the genes
>responsible for flowering in angiosperms?
Not really. What they showed from their work that a couple of different
genes can promote flowering in Arabidopsis and in Aspen (?). The genes
were expressed in the plants at all tyimes, but flowering did not occur
until the plants reached a minimum stage of development.
Additionally, the genes had been found previously, the new research
showed that the genes could induce flowering in plants that had matured
to the point where the genes could induce flowering.
In both species, the transgenic plants produced a single flower in place
of a cluster of flowers. So while flowering did occur, it wasn't the same
type of flowering that is seen in the wild type plants.
But to be able to get any flowers from a plant in 7 months instead of 8
years is quite an accomplishment.
Ken