Throughout development, plant meristems regularly produce organs in defined spiral, opposite, or whorl patterns. Cauliflowers present an unusual organ arrangement with a multitude of spirals nested over a wide range of scales. How such a fractal, self-similar organization emerges from developmental mechanisms has remained elusive. Combining experimental analyses in an Arabidopsis thaliana cauliflower-like mutant with modeling, we found that curd self-similarity arises because the meristems fail to form flowers but keep the “memory” of their transient passage in a floral state. Additional mutations affecting meristem growth can induce the production of conical structures reminiscent of the conspicuous fractal Romanesco shape. This study reveals how fractal-like forms may emerge from the combination of key, defined perturbations of floral developmental programs and growth dynamics.

Cauliflower fractal forms arise from perturbations of floral gene networks / E. Azpeitia, G. Tichtinsky, M. Le Masson, A. Serrano-Mislata, J. Lucas, V. Gregis, C. Gimenez, N. Prunet, E. Farcot, M. Kater, D. Bradley, F. Madueño, C. Godin, F. Parcy. - In: SCIENCE. - ISSN 0036-8075. - 373:6551(2021 Jul 09), pp. 192-197. [10.1126/science.abg5999]

Cauliflower fractal forms arise from perturbations of floral gene networks

V. Gregis;M. Kater;
2021

Abstract

Throughout development, plant meristems regularly produce organs in defined spiral, opposite, or whorl patterns. Cauliflowers present an unusual organ arrangement with a multitude of spirals nested over a wide range of scales. How such a fractal, self-similar organization emerges from developmental mechanisms has remained elusive. Combining experimental analyses in an Arabidopsis thaliana cauliflower-like mutant with modeling, we found that curd self-similarity arises because the meristems fail to form flowers but keep the “memory” of their transient passage in a floral state. Additional mutations affecting meristem growth can induce the production of conical structures reminiscent of the conspicuous fractal Romanesco shape. This study reveals how fractal-like forms may emerge from the combination of key, defined perturbations of floral developmental programs and growth dynamics.
Settore BIO/18 - Genetica
Settore BIO/01 - Botanica Generale
9-lug-2021
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abg5999?url_ver=Z39.88-2003&rfr_id=ori:rid:crossref.org&rfr_dat=cr_pub 0pubmed
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/2434/891272
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