Role of EVERGREEN in the development of the cymose petunia inflorescence

Plants species diverge with regard to the time and place where they make flowers. Flowers can develop from apical meristems, lateral meristems, or both, resulting in three major inflorescence types known as racemes, cymes, and panicles, respectively. The mechanisms that determine a racemose architecture have been uncovered in Arabidopsis and Antirrhinum. To understand how cymes are specified, we studied mutations that alter the petunia inflorescence. Here we show that EVERGREEN (EVG) encodes a WOX homeodomain protein, which is exclusively expressed in incipient lateral inflorescence meristems (IMs), promoting their separation from the apical floral meristem (FM). This is essential for activation of DOUBLE TOP and specification of floral identity. Mutations that change the cymose petunia inflorescence into a solitary flower fully suppress the evg phenotype. Our data suggest a key role for EVG in the diversification of inflorescence architectures and reveal an unanticipated link between the proliferation and identity of meristems.