title: Multiple developmental processes underlie sex differentiation in angiosperms.
abstract: The production of unisexual flowers has evolved numerous times in dioecious and monoecious plant taxa. Based on repeated evolutionary origins, a great variety of developmental and genetic mechanisms underlying unisexual flower development is predicted. Here, we comprehensively review the modes of development of unisexual flowers, test potential correlations with sexual system, and end with a synthesis of the genetics and hormonal regulation of plant sex determination. We find that the stage of organ abortion in male and female flowers is temporally correlated within species and also confirm that the arrest of development does not tend to occur preferentially at a particular stage, or via a common process.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA. pamela.diggle@colorado.edu
authors.forename: Pamela K
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Diggle
authors.forename: Verónica S
authors.initials: VS
authors.lastname: Di Stilio
authors.forename: Andrea R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Gschwend
authors.forename: Edward M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Golenberg
authors.forename: Richard C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Moore
authors.forename: John R W
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Russell
authors.forename: Jordan P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Sinclair
mesh_terms: D032461:Chromosomes, Plant; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D035264:Flowers / Q000254:growth & development; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D017343:Genes, Plant; D019684:Magnoliopsida / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development*; D009024:Morphogenesis / Q000235:genetics; D010641:Phenotype; D010937:Plant Growth Regulators / Q000235:genetics; D012098:Reproduction / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D010937:Plant Growth Regulators