<i>POPOVICH</i> , encoding a C2H2 zinc-finger transcription factor, plays a central role in the development of a key innovation, floral nectar spurs, in <i>Aquilegia</i>
Evangeline S. Ballerini, Ya Min, Molly B. Edwards, Elena M. Kramer, Scott A. Hodges
Abstract
Significance Throughout evolutionary history, organisms have evolved features that allow them to interact with their environment in novel ways. When such features lead to increased rates of speciation in a lineage, we call them key innovations. Understanding the genetic and developmental changes involved in the origin of key innovations is of particular interest. Here we identify a gene, POPOVICH , that is crucial to the development of a key innovation, floral nectar spurs, in the columbine genus Aquilegia . While the function of POPOVICH orthologs in other plant taxa suggests an ancestral function of the lineage in leaf development, in Aquilegia , POPOVICH also functions to promote cell division in petals, a key cellular step in the development of nectar spurs in the genus.