Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) leaf development relies on subsequent phases of cell proliferation and cell expansion. During the proliferation phase, chloroplasts need to divide extensively, and during the transition from cell proliferation to expansion, they differentiate into photosynthetically active chloroplasts, providing the plant with energy. The transcription factor GROWTH REGULATIN...

The balance between cell proliferation and cell differentiation is essential for leaf patterning. However, identification of the factors coordinating leaf patterning and cell growth behavior is challenging. Here, we characterized a temperature-sensitive Arabidopsis mutant with leaf blade and venation defects. We mapped the mutation to the sub-2 allele of the SCRAMBLED/STRUBBELIG (SCM/SUB) recep...

Analyses of the functions of TEOSINTE-LIKE1, CYCLOIDEA, and PROLIFERATING CELL FACTOR1 (TCP) transcription factors have been hampered by functional redundancy between its individual members. In general, putative functionally redundant genes are predicted based on sequence similarity and confirmed by genetic analysis. In the TCP family, however, identification is impeded by relatively low overal...

Expansion of space, rather than the progress of time, drives many developmental processes in plants. Metric-driven grammars provide a formal method for specifying and simulating such processes. We illustrate their operation using cell division patterns, phyllotactic patterns, and several aspects of leaf development.

Leaf area estimation is an important biometrical trait for evaluating leaf development and plant growth in field and pot experiments. We developed a non-destructive model to estimate the leaf area (LA) of Vernonia ferruginea using the length (L) and width (W) leaf dimensions. Different combinations of linear equations were obtained from L, L2, W, W2, LW and L2W2. The linear regressions using th...

Leaf senescence is the last stage of leaf development and is accompanied by cell death. In contrast to senescence in individual organisms that leads to death, leaf senescence is associated with dynamic processes that include the translocation of nutrients from old leaves to newly developing or storage tissues within the same plant. The onset of leaf senescence is largely regulated by age and in...

The plant-specific WRKY transcription factor (TF) family with 74 members in Arabidopsis thaliana appears to be involved in the regulation of various physiological processes including plant defence and senescence. WRKY53 and WRKY70 were previously implicated as positive and negative regulators of senescence, respectively. Here the putative function of other WRKY group III proteins in Arabidopsis...

Eriocnema fulva Naudin is an endangered herbaceous, perennial, iteroparous, evergreen species geographically restricted to southeastern-center Minas Gerais State, SE Brazil. The individuals occur as patches on rocky riverbanks shaded by seasonal semideciduous Atlantic forest; they are fixed by roots and have a pending stem. Aiming to investigate leaf development and its importance for individua...

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) exhibit diverse and important roles in plant growth, development, and stress responses and regulate gene expression at the post-transcriptional level. Knowledge about the diversity of miRNAs and their roles in leaf development in celery remains unknown. To elucidate the roles of miRNAs in celery leaf development, we identified leaf development-related miRNAs through high-thro...

Leaf development in higher plants requires the specification of leaf initials at the flanks of a pluripotent structure termed the shoot apical meristem. In Arabidopsis, this process is facilitated by negative interactions between class I KNOTTED1-like homeobox (KNOX) and ASYMMETRIC LEAVES1 (AS1) transcription factors, such that KNOX proteins are confined to the meristem and AS1 to leaf initials...