Part I - Watching plants grow
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 July 2011
Summary
Plant cells have a rigid cell wall. Therefore, unlike animal cells, they do not ‘sort out’, i.e. change their relative positions during development. Plant development is thus discussed largely in terms of two processes: cell division, and most particularly the control of its directionality; and change of cell shape by anisotropic extension of the cell surface, often in the form of elongation along the axial direction of a stem or root. In molecular terms, arrays of microtubules are of great importance in plant development, because they can define directionalities.
My account in the four chapters of Part I is not primarily concerned with those features of plant development, but with another very general feature of plant development, branching processes. These commonly occur in apical regions having circular symmetry, and demand explanation by mechanisms capable of breaking that symmetry. This is a significant guide to possible classes of mechanism to explore. But whereas such a consideration leads one towards generalization, relevant experimental data are usually for specific examples. At the present stage of partial knowledge, there is no unique way to put together an account interweaving experiment and theory into a fabric of scientific understanding. My attempt at a start on this has the following structure.
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- Information
- The Shaping of LifeThe Generation of Biological Pattern, pp. 21 - 22Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010