Regulation of fruit dehiscence in Arabidopsis

Abstract

Fruit dehiscence is a strategy that many fruits adopt to achieve seed dispersal. The dehiscence process involves the differentiation of specialized cell types and a tight co-ordination of molecular and biochemical events that eventually lead to a cell separation process that frees the seeds once they have matured. In the last few years, great progress has been made in identifying the molecular mechanisms underlying fruit dehiscence in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. In this review, a summary of our current knowledge is presented, and possible future explorations are suggested.