Morphogenesis in Plants: Modeling the Shoot Apical Merist&,rand Possible Applications

A key determinant of overall morphogenesis in flowering plants such as Arabidopsis thaliana is the shoot apical meristem (growing tip of a shoot). Gene r gulation networks can be used to model this system. We exhibit a very preliminary two-dimensional model including gene regulation and intercellular signaling, but omitting cell division ana' dynamical geometry. The model can be hnined to have three stable regions of gene xpression corresponding to the central ;one, peripheral zone, and rib meristem. We also discuss a space-engineering motivation for studying and controlling the morphogenesis of plants using such computational models.