Academic Research

Chair Professor Chang-Hsien Yang and his team found that AtERF19 in Arabidopsis, together with its orchid homolog PaERF19, regulates both flower number and flower size through dual modulation of the cytokinin and auxin pathways. AtERF19 promotes reproductive meristem activity and flower production by positively regulating WUS and acting downstream of the negative regulator CLV3 in the cytokinin pathway. In addition, AtERF19 increases flower organ size by positively regulating SAUR32 and MYB21/24 in the auxin pathway. The team further showed that ectopic expression of AtERF19 in tobacco and of Phalaenopsis PaERF19 in Arabidopsis both resulted in increased flower number and enlarged floral organs. These findings demonstrate that AtERF19 homologs can coordinately regulate cytokinin- and auxin-related pathways to control flower production and organ size. The study was published in The Plant Journal (Li et al., 2023).

Article source: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/tpj.16196