Co-ordination of Flower Development Through Epigenetic Regulation in Two Model Species: Rice and Arabidopsis

Angiosperms produce flowers for reproduction. Flower de-velopment is a multistep developmental process, beginning with the initiation of the floral meristems, followed by floral meristem identity specification and maintenance, organ pri-mordia initiation, floral organ identity specification, floral stem cell termination and finally floral organ maturation. During flower development, each of a large number of genes is expressed in a spatiotemporally regulated manner. Underlying these molecular and phenotypic events are vari-ous genetic and epigenetic pathways, consisting of diverse transcription factors, chromatin-remodeling factors and sig-naling molecules. Over the past 30 years, genetic, biochem-ical and genomic assays have revealed the underlying genetic frameworks that control flower development. Here, we will review the transcriptional regulation of flower development in two model species: Arabidopsis thaliana and rice (Oryza sativa). We focus on epigenetic regulation that functions to co-ordinate transcription pathways in flower development