Unboxing the mysteries of the maize orthologs of the HAWAIIAN SKIRT F-box gene from Arabidopsis

Hunger and malnutrition are the leading risks to health worldwide. Every year, hunger kills 1.5 million children (World Food Programme, UN). It is critical to find new, sustainable and more efficient methods of increasing crop productivity to ensure food security for Europe (Lisbon Treaty, Horizon 2020) and the World as soon as possible. This programme of work will contribute to finding them. Plant development is crucial for crop yield. Creating more resilient plants will increase fruit and seed production, pollination and ultimately crop yield. This innovative, multidisciplinary project will elucidate the key roles of two corn genes during the plant development in corn, including the creation of novel flowers, plant boundary formation, and how two regulatory mechanisms interact during these events.
Previous and current research1,2,3 in our lab demonstrates that the HAWAIIAN SKIRT, an F-box gene in Arabidopsis, plays an important role in microRNA biogenesis and protein degradation; which have an impact in flower and plant development and abiotic stresses.
1González-Carranza, Z.H., Peters, J.L., Zhang X., and Roberts, J.A. (2014a) Arabidopsis HWS Controls Floral Organ Number and Size by altering transcript levels of CUC1 and CUC2 via miR164. Submitted to Plant Cell, (Nov 2014)
2Yu, H., Murchie E. H., Gonzalez-Carranza Z. H., Pyke K. A., Roberts J. A. (2014) Decreased photosynthesis in the erect panicle 3 (ep3) mutant of rice is associated with reduced stomatal conductance and attenuated guard cell development. Submitted to JExpBot.
3González-Carranza, Z.H., Zhang X., Peters J. L. And Roberts J. A. (2009). Interaction between the ubiquitination and miRNA pathways in the regulation of flower development. 20th International Conference in Arabidopsis Research, P037, P12.