Interpretations of determination and canalisation of stamen development in a tomato mutant

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Abstract
Floral buds of different sizes of the single-gene recessive mutant stamenless-2 (sl2/sl2) of tomato were treated with gibberellic acid (GA3) and the development of staminal features in each bud was followed. The results show that the application of GA3 to buds with stamen primordia at the early stages of initiation (up to 0.1 mm in length) induced the formation of normal-looking stamens. However, with a progressive increase in stamen size, less and less of the normal stamen features were produced following the GA3 treatment. Ultimately, buds with stamen primordia 0.8 mm long or longer failed to respond to GA3 and produced all the mutant characteristics. These results are discussed in terms of Waddington's concept of “determination” and “canalisation” of development.