Expression and Functional Studies of Leaf, Floral, and Fruit Developmental Genes in Non-model Species

Researchers working on evolutionary developmental plant biology are inclined to choose non-model taxa to address how specific features have been acquired during ontogeny and fixed during phylogeny. In this chapter we describe methods to extract RNA, to assemble de-novo transcriptomes, to isolate orthologous genes within gene families, and to evaluate expression and function of target genes. We have successfully optimized these protocols for non-model plant species including ferns, gymnosperms, and a large assortment of angiosperms. In the latter, we have ranged a large number of families including Aristolochiaceae, Apodanthaceae, Chloranthaceae, Orchidaceae, Papaveraceae, Rubiaceae, Solanaceae, and Tropaeolaceae.