Description
The DEVIL (DVL) family is a plant-specific family of genes that encode predicted small polypeptides (Wen, et al., 2004; Narita, et al., 2004). Overexpression of DVL family members in Arabidopsis results in pleiotropic developmental phenotypes including shortened stature, rounded rosette leaves, clustered inflorescences, shortened pedicles and horn-like protrusions at the distal end of siliques. Point mutations reveled that a conserved C-terminal domain is required for DVL overexpression phenotypes and is conserved in all family members. Based on the overexpression experiments, DVL family members are suggested to play important roles in plant development.