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An everlasting pioneer: the story of Antirrhinum research

Nature Reviews Genetics volume 4, pages 655–664 (2003)Cite this article

Abstract

Despite the tremendous success of Arabidopsis thaliana, no single model can represent the vast range of form that is seen in the ∼250,000 existing species of flowering plants (angiosperms). Here, we consider the history and future of an alternative angiosperm model — the snapdragon Antirrhinum majus. We ask what made Antirrhinum attractive to the earliest students of variation and inheritance, and how its use led to landmark advances in plant genetics and to our present understanding of plant development. Finally, we show how the wide diversity of Antirrhinum species, combined with classical and molecular genetics — the two traditional strengths of Antirrhinum — provide an opportunity for developmental, evolutionary and ecological approaches. These factors make A. majus an ideal comparative angiosperm.

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Figure 1: Erwin Baur.
Figure 2: Size comparison between mature Antirrhinum and Arabidopsis flowers.
Figure 3: Mutants of Antirrhinum majus.
Figure 4: Floral asymmetry.
Figure 5: Natural variation in the genus Antirrhinum.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the many colleagues from the Antirrhinum community who helped us during the preparation of this manuscript, and M. Wilkinson and K. Stüber for establishing and maintaining the Antirrhinum database. We gratefully acknowledge the maintenance and distribution of the classical Antirrhinum seed collection by the Institut für Kulturpflanzenforschung (IPK) Gatersleben. The work of A.H. and B.D. is supported in part by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), and the research of Z.S.-S. and her group is supported in part by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. Collaboration between Z.S.-S. and B.D. is supported by a British Council/German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) Academic Research Collaboration (ARC) project grant.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Max Planck Institut für Züchtungsforschung, Carl-von-Linné-Weg 10, Köln, 50829, Germany

    Zsuzsanna Schwarz-Sommer

  2. Centre for Plant Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK

    Brendan Davies

  3. Institute of Cell and Molecular Biology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH9 3JH, UK

    Andrew Hudson

Authors
  1. Zsuzsanna Schwarz-Sommer
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  2. Brendan Davies
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  3. Andrew Hudson
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Related links

Related links

DATABASES

DragonDB

CIN

CYC

def-gli

DEF

DICH

DIV

FAR

FLO

GLO

HIRZ

NIV

OCT

pal-rec

PAL

PHAN

RAD

TAIR

AS1

SUP

FURTHER INFORMATION

Cathie Martin's web site

Enrico Coen and Rosemary Carpenter's web site

IPK-Gatersleben

John Innes Centre

Max Planck Institut für Züchtungsforschung

University of Leeds Centre for Plant Sciences

Glossary

ANTHOCYANIN

A soluble flavonoid pigment that is responsible for the blue-to-red colours in the flowers and other tissues of many angiosperm species.

AUTONOMOUS TRANSPOSON

Encodes a transposase protein that catalyses its excision and reintegration in the genome. An autonomous transposon can therefore direct its own transposition.

CHIASMA

The cytological manifestation of genetic exchange between chromosomes, which indicates that a crossover has occurred between homologous chromosomes.

COROLLA

A collective term for petals.

HOMEOTIC

A mutation that causes one member of a repetitive series to assume the identity of another member, for example, the transformation of sepals into petals.

MADS BOX

An acronym for the DNA-binding domain of a gene family that is derived from the initials of the founding members MCM1, AGAMOUS, DEFICIENS and SRF, in yeast, Arabidopsis, Antirrhinum and humans, respectively.

MERICLINAL CHIMAERA

A plant shoot in which only part of a cell layer is genetically distinct.

PELORIC

A term coined by Darwin to describe a mutant flower that has many planes of reflectional symmetry.

PERIANTH

A collective term for the sepals and petals.

PERICLINAL CHIMAERA

A shoot that is formed from an apical meristem in which at least one of the clonally distinct cell layers is genetically different.

STOMATA

Natural openings in the epidermis of the stem or leaf of a plant, which are surrounded by specialized guard cells and allow gaseous exchange with the air.

SYNTENY

The conservation of the relative order of genes in the chromosomes of different species.

TAC LIBRARY

A library consisting of large fragments of plant genomic DNA in a transformation-competent bacterial artificial chromosome (TAC) vector. This allows rapid transfer of genomic DNA to plant hosts through Agrobacterium-mediated transformation.

TRICHOMES

Epidermal hairs, which in Antirrhinum are multicellular.

WHORL

Organs of the same structure and function that are arranged in a concentric ring. In the flower, the outermost whorl (whorl one) develops first and contains the sepals, followed by the petals, stamens and carpels in whorls two, three and four, respectively.

ZYGOMORPHY

A zygomorphic flower has only one plane of reflectional symmetry and is often insect pollinated.

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Schwarz-Sommer, Z., Davies, B. & Hudson, A. An everlasting pioneer: the story of Antirrhinum research. Nat Rev Genet 4, 655–664 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrg1127

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