Formation and cell lineage patterns of the shoot apex of maize

Abstract

In maize, glossy (gl) mutants lack the wax layer normally present on the epidermis of young leaves. By insertion mutagenesis, unstable alleles (gl1‐m) have been induced at the Gl1 locus. In the gl1‐m8 strain, somatic reversions to wild‐type frequently result in the formation of large sectors occupying predictable positions in all seedlings' leaves. In studies of 230 gl1‐m8 seedlings with large reverted sectors covering around 50% of the first leaf, four patterns of sectoring were recognized: one large sector ending in all leaves at the main midrib (32.6% of cases); one central sector on leaves 1, 3 and 5 (or 2 and 4), corresponding to lateral stripes of Gl1 tissue on the other leaves (7.9%);..