Ford vs; Gottlieb Ld 1992

• Authors: Ford vs; Gottlieb Ld
• Title: Bicalyx is a natural homeotic floral variant
• Location: Nature (london), 358 (6388). 1992. 671-673.
• Abstract: induced homeotic floral mutants in arabidopsis thaliana and Antirrhinum majus are used to investigate the molecular mechanisms that establish floral organ identity. here we describe bicalyx, a naturally occurring homeotic floral variant in clarkia concinna (onagraceae) that replaces petals with sepal-like structures. typical c. concinna flowers have four sepals, four tri-lobed, bright pink petals, four stamens and a four-part ovary. bicalyx flowers appear to have eight sepals, no petals and wild-type stamens and ovary with no reduction in fertility. all bicalyx organs on a plant are alike and have no developmental abnormalities, in contrast to many of the homeotic phenotypes described. bicalyx demonstrates that a large morphological difference governed by a simple genetic change can become established in a natural plant population and suggests that even homeotic genes play a role in the evolution of morphological diversity in plants.