Ovule development: genetic trends and evolutionary considerations

Much of our current understanding of ovule development in flowering pants is derived from genetic and molecular studies performed on Arabidopsis thaliana. Arabidopsis has bitegmic, anatropous ovules, representing both the most common and the putative ancestral state among angiosperms. These studies show that key genetic determinants that act to control morphogenesis during ovule development also play roles in vegetative organ formation, consistent with Goethe’s “everything is a leaf” concept. Additionally, the existence of a common set of genetic factors that underlie laminar growth in angiosperms fits well with hypotheses of homology between integuments and leaves. Utilizing Arabidopsis as a reference, researchers are now investigating taxa with varied ovule morphologies to uncover common and diverged mechanisms of ovule development.