Shaping up a leaf – molecular control of organ growth and geometry

Abstract:
How shape evolves in a growing organ is a key question in biology. While regulation of shape has been traditionally addressed in biomechanics and in descriptive biology, the contribution of genes in organ shape development has been studied in more recent years. Leaves of most model plants are planar organs that show allometric growth with a base-to-tip gradient, even though a more diverse growth polarity has recently been demonstrated in natural species. Despite such heterogeneity in growth, it is still an open question as to how an expanding leaf surface retains its flatness. Margin architecture is also an important aspect of leaf architecture that brings a great deal of diversity in its shape. In my talk, I will discuss recent developments in some of these leaf shape determinants.

References

(1) Coen, E. et al. (2004). PNAS 101:4728-4735. 
(2) Moon, J. and Hake, S. (2010). Curr. Opin. Plant Biol. 14:24-30.