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Vegetative development in many plants progresses through distinct juvenile and adult phases. In maize, the transition from juvenile to adult shoot development affects a variety of leaf epidermal cell traits. These include epicuticular waxes, leaf hairs, and cell wall characteristics. Previous genetic and phenotypic analyses have shown that the maize Glossy15 (Gl15) gene is required for the expression of juvenile epidermal traits after leaf 2. We report here the molecular cloning of the Gl15 gene using a defective Suppressor-Mutator (dSpm) element insertion as a transposon-tag. Consistent with the gl15 mutant phenotype, the pattern of Gl15 mRNA expression was correlated with a juvenile leaf epidermal cell identity and was regulated by upstream factors such as Corngrass1. The Gl15 gene encodes a putative transcription factor with significant sequence similarity to the Arabidopsis regulatory genes APETALA2 and …