= INDEHISCENT
{c}
<INDEHISCENT>, abbreviated IND, is an <Arabidopsis thaliana> regulatory <gene> whose encoded <transcription factor> helps specify the <fruit> tissues required for opening and <seed dispersal>. The gene name and its protein product are related uses of the name; an <INDEHISCENT> mutant is an altered organism, not a separate anatomical layer. A 2004 study identified IND and its role in patterning dispersal-related fruit cell types.<Control of Fruit Patterning in Arabidopsis by INDEHISCENT by Sarah J. Liljegren and others>[Abstract; IND identity and fruit-patterning function]{ref}
The distinction between growth and identity is experimentally useful. The 2004 work showed that the action of <FRUITFULL> included preventing misplaced IND activity, rather than simply acting as a direct fruit-elongation switch.<Control of Fruit Patterning in Arabidopsis by INDEHISCENT by Sarah J. Liljegren and others>[Abstract; ectopic IND activity and interpretation of FUL mutants]{ref} A malformed short <fruit> can therefore reflect a change in tissue identity rather than failure of a generic growth process.
A 2016 study compared normal <fruits> with <INDEHISCENT> <mutants> and found an early defect in the <cell divisions> that form the <dehiscence zone>. It connected the factor to <auxin> transport and response during early development.<An INDEHISCENT-Controlled Auxin Response Specifies the Separation Layer in Early Arabidopsis Fruit by Kasper van Gelderen and others>[Abstract; early mutant anatomy and stages14–16 transport perturbation]{ref} Together these experiments motivate a regulatory explanation: local <gene expression> changes developmental signals, those signals influence <cell> behaviour, and the resulting tissue arrangement makes a <separation layer> possible.
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