Molecular basis of plant architecture.

Higher plants display a variety of architectures that are defined by the degree of branching, internodal elongation, and shoot determinancy. Studies on the model plants of Arabidopsis thaliana and tomato and on crop plants such as rice and maize have greatly strengthened our understanding on the molecular genetic bases of plant architecture, one of the hottest areas in plant developmental biology. The identification of mutants that are defective in plant architecture and characterization of the corresponding and related genes will eventually enable us to elucidate the molecular mechanisms underlying plant architecture. The achievements made so far in studying plant architecture have already allowed us to pave a way for optimizing the plant architecture of crops by molecular design and improving grain productivity.