Poster: Signaling, cell-to-cell

Abs # 446: Characterization of an ectopic cell separation mutant tfa "things fall apart"

Presenter:	Patterson, Sara E., spatters@facstaff.wisc.edu
Authors	Patterson, Sara E. (A)   Rao, Hongyu  (A)   Most, Ayala  (A)   Quinn, Austin  (B)   Bleecker, Tony  (B)
Affiliations:	(A): Department of Horticulture, University Of Wisconsin (B): Department of Botany, University of Wisconsin

We have identified several ectopic cell separation mutants that we have designated tfa "things fall apart." These mutants are all characterized by unregulated cell separation in epidermal, cortical and vascular tissues. This process is most severe in young seedlings affecting the hypocotyl, cotyledon, and first true leaves. Crosses among the mutants indicate that two of these genes are alleles, and we have designated them tfa1-1, tfa1-2 and tfa2-1. tfa1-1 and tfa2-1 were identified in T-DNA insertion populations, and tfa 1-2 was identified from an EMS screen. We will present phenotypic, physiological and molecular characterization of these mutants. We propose that there are several regulatory pathways affecting cell separation programs in the plant. TFA1 and TFA2 may represent genes regulating global repressor systems. This work was funded by USDA grants 9835301-6764 and 0035301-9085.