Tag: Development

Mature grass leaves contain two specialized types of epidermal cells: stomata and epidermal hairs (trichomes). Stomatal pores are crucial for CO2 uptake and water conservation, while epidermal hairs contribute to water regulation and provide protection against UV-B light. If stomatal identity is not…

This is one of those “straight into the textbook” stories. Kellenberger et al. investigated the unusual petal pigmentation pattern of a South African daisy Gorteria diffusa, which has petals with odd lumpy irregular spots that mimic female flies and enhance pollination through sexual deception. The…

Flowers come in a breathtaking variety of shapes and sizes. The structures making up a flower, called sepals, petals, stamens, and carpels, all derive from the tightly regulated differentiation of a pool of stem cells in the so-called floral meristem. Floral meristem termination (FMT) is a crucial stage…

The Arabidopsis thaliana leaf exhibits dramatic phenotypic changes across the juvenile-to-adult phase transition during vegetative development. For example, juvenile leaves are small, round, and lack trichomes (leaf hairs). By contrast, adult leaves contain trichomes on the abaxial (or lower) leaf surface,…

Generally, light inhibits hypocotyl elongation. Like red and blue light, green light was previously reported to inhibit hypocotyl elongation in several plants. Here, Hao et al. discovered that the inhibition of hypocotyl growth by green light is due to wavelength impurities in the green lights used.…

The CLAVATA1 receptor-like kinase and its ligand CLAVATA3 (CLV3) are associated with the CLAVATA-WUSCHEL pathway, which partly controls locule number (the seed-bearing structure of fruits). An increase in locule number is believed to increase the number of seeds and subsequently increase fruit size.…

We’ve all seen striking photographs comparing the modern maize (Zea mays spp. mays L.) ear to the seed head of its wild-grass ancestor teosinte (Zea mays spp. parviglumis). Besides the huge increase in size, one of the features that allows us to munch on “corn on the cob” is the absence of the…

Precise control of cell division is an important requirement for proper development in multicellular organisms. Rho-like GTPases from Plants (ROPs) are key conserved regulators of cell polarity and morphogenesis, however, it is unknown if ROP signaling pathways regulate cell division patterning and meristem…