The Generation of an Antibody to the Bearded-Ear Protein in Maize

Flowers are essential for plants to reproduce and also produce seeds and fruits that are consumed as food. Zea mays (maize) is both a staple crop and serves as a model for other grass species. In maize , male and female flowers are present on separate inflorescences; the ear holds the female flowers and the tassel holds the male flowers. To understand the normal function of genes in maize development , we study mutants that affect development of one or both inflorescences. My project focuses on the bearded-ear (bde) gene. bde mutants have multiple floral defects and are female sterile. In the ear , bde mutant flowers make extra floral organs and , in the tassel , flowers often contain silks. bde encodes a MADS-box transcription factor; MADS-box transcription factors have well-known roles in floral development in diverse species. The long-term goal of my project is to develop tools which can be used to express recombinant protein in bacteria. This recombinant protein could be used as an antigen to generate a BDE-specific antibody that could be used to further investigate the function of the BDE protein in a number of downstream applications , such as chromatin immunoprecipitation coupled with next-generation sequencing (ChIP seq) and immunoprecipitation coupled with mass spectrometry (IP Mass Spec).