Male and female unisexual flowers evolved from hermaphroditic ancestors, and control of flower sex is useful for plant breeding. We isolated a female-to-male sex transition mutant in melon and identified the causal gene as the carpel identity gene
CRABS CLAW (CRC)
. We show that the master regulator of sex determination in cucurbits, the transcription factor
WIP1
whose expression orchestrates male flower development, recruits the corepressor TOPLESS to the
CRC
promoter to suppress its expression through histone deacetylation. Impairing TOPLESS-WIP1 physical interaction leads to
CRC
expression, carpel determination, and consequently the expression of the stamina inhibitor, the aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid synthase 7 (
CmACS7
), leading to female flower development. Our findings suggest that sex genes evolved to interfere with flower meristematic function, leading to unisexual flower development.
A series of arylhydrazines was synthesized from the reaction mixture of Mg powder, 1,2‐dibromoethane, aryl bromide and DEAD (diethyl azodicarboxylate) in THF under ultrasound. This sonochemical Barbier reaction provides an efficient and inexpensive preparation method for synthesis of arylhydrazines.
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