As with other biological processes, genetics can be used to disrupt and then understand these mechanisms. Assessing shapes carefully and quantitatively leads to the identification of mutants that have less-regular organs, displaying higher phenotypical variability. One of the organs that is now used as a model for this type of research is the tiny sepal that is produced during flower development in Arabidopsis to protect the delicate buds. A mutant named drmy1, isolated by Adrienne Roeder and colleagues and previously described in our pages, was re-examined in a recent study. The affected gene encodes a putative Myb-like transcription factor.

Transcriptome and proteome analyses show that translation is lowered in the mutant, owing to a drastic reduction in the activity of TOR kinase, the central protein synthesis regulator. Consequently, decreased production of A-type ARR and AHP6 inhibitors increases cytokinin signalling. Converging and solid evidence from multiple approaches suggests that precise patterns of both auxin and cytokinins are disrupted in early mutant floral buds, which causes variability: three to five mispositioned sepals with variable shapes, instead of the usual four regular ones. The authors conclude that, in the wild-type plant, fully active translation is key to keeping hormone signalling balanced and precisely localized in the buds, which is needed to keep morphogenesis robust.

与其他生物过程一样，遗传学可用于破坏然后了解这些机制。仔细和定量地评估形状可以识别出器官不太规则的突变体，显示出更高的表型变异性。现在用作此类研究模型的器官之一是拟南芥在花发育过程中产生的微小萼片，以保护娇嫩的花蕾。由 Adrienne Roeder 及其同事分离并之前在我们的页面上描述的名为 drmy1 的突变体在最近的一项研究中被重新检查。受影响的基因编码一种推定的 Myb 样转录因子。

转录组和蛋白质组分析表明，由于中央蛋白质合成调节因子 TOR 激酶的活性急剧降低，突变体中的翻译降低。因此，A 型 ARR 和 AHP6 抑制剂的产生减少会增加细胞分裂素信号传导。来自多种方法的融合和确凿证据表明，生长素和细胞分裂素的精确模式在早期突变花芽中都被破坏，从而导致变异性：三到五个错位的萼片形状可变，而不是通常的四个规则的萼片。作者得出结论，在野生型植物中，完全主动的翻译是保持激素信号平衡和精确定位在芽中的关键，这是保持形态发生稳健所必需的。