title: Post-embryonic Hourglass Patterns Mark Ontogenetic Transitions in Plant Development.
abstract: The historic developmental hourglass concept depicts the convergence of animal embryos to a common form during the phylotypic period. Recently, it has been shown that a transcriptomic hourglass is associated with this morphological pattern, consistent with the idea of underlying selective constraints due to intense molecular interactions during body plan establishment. Although plants do not exhibit a morphological hourglass during embryogenesis, a transcriptomic hourglass has nevertheless been identified in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana Here, we investigated whether plant hourglass patterns are also found postembryonically. We found that the two main phase changes during the life cycle of Arabidopsis, from embryonic to vegetative and from vegetative to reproductive development, are associated with transcriptomic hourglass patterns. In contrast, flower development, a process dominated by organ formation, is not. This suggests that plant hourglass patterns are decoupled from organogenesis and body plan establishment. Instead, they may reflect general transitions through organizational checkpoints.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Computer Science, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle (Saale), Germany hajk-georg.drost@informatik.uni-halle.de marcel.quint@landw.uni-halle.de.
authors.forename: Hajk-Georg
authors.initials: HG
authors.lastname: Drost
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Signal Processing, Leibniz Institute of Plant Biochemistry, Halle (Saale), Germany.
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bellstädt
authors.affiliation: Smurfit Institute of Genetics, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.
authors.forename: Diarmuid S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Ó'Maoiléidigh
authors.affiliation: Wageningen Seed Lab, Laboratory of Plant Physiology, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Anderson T
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.affiliation: Institute of Computer Science, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle (Saale), Germany.
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gabel
authors.affiliation: Institute of Computer Science, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle (Saale), Germany.
authors.forename: Claus
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Weinholdt
authors.affiliation: Smurfit Institute of Genetics, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.
authors.forename: Patrick T
authors.initials: PT
authors.lastname: Ryan
authors.affiliation: Wageningen Seed Lab, Laboratory of Plant Physiology, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands Department of Molecular Plant Physiology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Bas J W
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Dekkers
authors.affiliation: Wageningen Seed Lab, Laboratory of Plant Physiology, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands Department of Molecular Plant Physiology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Leónie
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bentsink
authors.affiliation: Wageningen Seed Lab, Laboratory of Plant Physiology, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Henk W M
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Hilhorst
authors.affiliation: Wageningen Seed Lab, Laboratory of Plant Physiology, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Wilco
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Ligterink
authors.affiliation: Smurfit Institute of Genetics, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Wellmer
authors.affiliation: Institute of Computer Science, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle (Saale), Germany German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: Ivo
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Grosse
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Signal Processing, Leibniz Institute of Plant Biochemistry, Halle (Saale), Germany Institute of Agricultural and Nutritional Sciences, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle (Saale), Germany hajk-georg.drost@informatik.uni-halle.de marcel.quint@landw.uni-halle.de.
authors.forename: Marcel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Quint
mesh_terms: D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000378:metabolism; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D063245:Plant Development / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D059467:Transcriptome
chemical_list: D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins
keywords: developmental hourglass; floral transition.; germination; plant development; transcriptomics