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Originally published in Science Express on 24 May 2007
Science 8 June 2007:
Vol. 316. no. 5830, pp. 1452 - 1456
DOI: 10.1126/science.1140429
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Research Articles

Evolution and Development of Inflorescence Architectures

Przemyslaw Prusinkiewicz,1 Yvette Erasmus,2* Brendan Lane,1 Lawrence D. Harder,3 Enrico Coen2{dagger}

To understand the constraints on biological diversity, we analyzed how selection and development interact to control the evolution of inflorescences, the branching structures that bear flowers. We show that a single developmental model accounts for the restricted range of inflorescence types observed in nature and that this model is supported by molecular genetic studies. The model predicts associations between inflorescence architecture, climate, and life history, which we validated empirically. Paths, or evolutionary wormholes, link different architectures in a multidimensional fitness space, but the rate of evolution along these paths is constrained by genetic and environmental factors, which explains why some evolutionary transitions are rare between closely related plant taxa.

1 Department of Computer Science, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive N.W. Calgary, Alberta T2N 1N4, Canada.
2 Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, John Innes Centre, Colney Lane, Norwich NR4 7UH, UK.
3 Department of Biological Sciences, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive N.W. Calgary, Alberta T2N 1N4, Canada.

* Present address: Institute of Molecular Plant Science, Daniel Rutherford Building, Kings Buildings, Mayfield Road, Edinburgh, EH9 3JR, UK.

{dagger} To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: enrico.coen{at}bbsrc.ac.uk

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)