Tinkering with transcription factor networks for developmental robustness of Ranunculales flowers

The flowers of core eudicots and monocots are generally determined by the number of floral organs they produce, and their developmental set-up tolerates little change from the bauplan once the floral primordium is initiated. Many species outside the core eudicots and monocots are more plastic in the number of floral organs they produce. For example, the Nymphaeales (water lilies), within the basal angiosperms, arrange their floral organs spirally and show smooth transitions between floral organs, and many Ranunculales (buttercups) produce variable numbers of stamens by adjusting the number of stamen whorls generated from a specialized ring meristem. However, the interactions of regulatory genes governing those processes are unknown.