Shedding new light on leaf formation
A research project studying the biology of plants has shed new light on the mechanisms that control the placement and arrangement of leaves. The new insights revealed by the study could help to inform the way in which we select and grow different varieties of crops in the future. Co-author of the study Dr Etienne Farcot , at The University of Nottingham, said: "With a world population of seven billion and growing, ensuring global food security is one of the major challenges of modern society. Almost all plants share a striking property: their organs are arranged in a very regular geometric fashion. These regular arrangements are called phyllotaxis, a Greek term which reflects how this question has fascinated many scholars since ancient history. And yet, it remains a puzzle to modern day scientists. Research in the last few decades has shown how a plant hormone, called auxin, is transported in a complex way throughout the plant, generating microscopic patterns which eventually lead to phyllotaxis.
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