Resolving the role of strigolactone in the early steps of rice axillary bud dormancy

The mechanisms underlying axillary bud outgrowth in apical dominance, i.e. the outgrowth of axillary buds following the removal of the apical bud, have been studied for many decades (Thimann and Skoog, 1934). This process is a major determinant of shoot branching and, as such, of aerial plant architecture (Barbier et al., 2017). Auxin has long been implicated in axillary bud outgrowth (Bennett et al., 2006). However, given that auxin itself does...