MADS31 supports female germline development by repressing the post-fertilization programme in cereal ovules

Abstract excerpt

The female germline of flowering plants develops within a niche of sporophytic (somatic) ovule cells, also referred to as the nucellus. How niche cells maintain their own somatic developmental programme, yet support the development of adjoining germline cells, remains largely unknown. Here we report that MADS31, a conserved MADS-box transcription factor from the B-sister subclass, is a potent regulator of niche...