title: MADS: the missing link between identity and growth?
abstract: Size and shape are intrinsic characteristics of any given plant organ and, therefore, are inherently connected with its identity. How the connection between identity and growth is established at the molecular level remains one of the key questions in developmental biology. The identity of floral organs is determined by a hierarchical combination of transcription factors, most of which belong to the MADS box family. Recent progress in finding the target genes of these master regulators reopened the debate about the missing link between identity and floral organ growth. Here, we review these novel findings and integrate them into a model, to show how MADS proteins, in concert with co-factors, could fulfill their role at later stages of floral organ development when size and shape are established.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Biologia Vegetal, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Campinas, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Marcelo C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Dornelas
authors.forename: Camila Maistro
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Patreze
authors.forename: Gerco C
authors.initials: GC
authors.lastname: Angenent
authors.forename: Richard G H
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Immink
mesh_terms: D035264:Flowers / Q000378:metabolism; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D026161:MADS Domain Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D063245:Plant Development; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D010944:Plants / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D026161:MADS Domain Proteins; D010940:Plant Proteins