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02:36Meristems and Plant Growth
Plants grow throughout their lives; this is called indeterminate growth, and it distinguishes plants from most animals. Although certain parts of plants stop growing (e.g., leaves and flowers), others grow continuously—like roots and stems.
03:02Primary and Secondary Growth in Roots and Shoots
Vascular plants, which account for over 90% of the Earth’s vegetation, all undergo primary growth—which lengthens roots and shoots. Many land plants, notably woody plants, also undergo secondary growth—which thickens roots and shoots.
02:19Morphogenesis
Plant morphogenesis—the development of a plant’s form and structure—involves several overlapping developmental processes, including growth and cell differentiation. Precursor cells differentiate into specific cell types, which are organized into the tissues and organ systems that make up the functional plant.
02:16Light Acquisition
In order to produce glucose, plants need to capture sufficient light energy. Many modern plants have evolved leaves specialized for light acquisition. Leaves can be only millimeters in width or tens of meters wide, depending on the environment. Due to competition for sunlight, evolution has driven the evolution of increasingly larger leaves and taller plants, to avoid shading by their neighbors with contaminant elaboration of root architecture and mechanisms to transport water and nutrients.
02:33Seed Structure and Early Development of the Sporophyte
Seed structures are composed of a protective seed coat surrounding a plant embryo, and a food store for the developing embryo. The embryo contains the precursor tissues for leaves, stem, and roots. The endosperm and cotyledons—seed leaves—act as the food reserves for the growing embryo.
02:45Biological Clocks and Seasonal Responses
The circadian—or biological—clock is an intrinsic, timekeeping, molecular mechanism that allows plants to coordinate physiological activities over 24-hour cycles called circadian rhythms. Photoperiodism is a collective term for the biological responses of plants to variations in the relative lengths of dark and light periods. The period of light-exposure is called the photoperiod.
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Comparative plant development: the time of the leaf?
1Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3RB, UK. miltos.tsiantis@plant-sciences.oxford.ac.uk
Nature Reviews. Genetics
|March 1, 2003
Summary
Understanding plant morphological innovations, like diverse leaf forms, is crucial. KNOTTED1-type homeodomain proteins and differential gene expression are key developmental factors driving these evolutionary changes.
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Area of Science:
- Developmental biology
- Plant morphology
- Evolutionary developmental biology
Background:
- A central challenge in developmental biology is elucidating the origins of morphological innovations.
- Comparative studies of plants with varied leaf morphologies suggest a role for specific developmental pathways.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the involvement of KNOTTED1-type homeodomain proteins in generating diverse plant leaf forms.
- To explore the significance of differential gene expression in driving plant morphological evolution.
Main Methods:
- Comparative analysis of plant species exhibiting distinct leaf morphologies.
- Examination of the expression patterns of KNOTTED1-type homeodomain proteins.
- Quantitative trait locus (QTL) analyses to support findings.
Main Results:
- Evidence suggests that the developmental pathway regulated by KNOTTED1-type homeodomain proteins is implicated in the diversification of leaf forms.
- Differential expression of regulatory proteins is identified as a significant mechanism contributing to morphological innovations in plants.
Conclusions:
- The KNOTTED1-type homeodomain protein pathway is a potential key player in the evolution of plant leaf morphology.
- Differential gene expression is a critical factor underlying the generation of morphological diversity in the plant kingdom.