Miltos Tsiantis and his group from the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research want to find out how biological forms develop and the basis for their diversity. The researchers are using thale ...

All leaves develop from tiny buds, which consist of only a few cells. The buds always look the same, no matter what kind of leaf they eventually form. Not only that, but very similar leaf shapes can ...

video: Professor Miltos Tsiantis from the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research in Cologne talks about his recent work in CELL showing how genes act to determine leaf shape. view more ...

Complex morphology is an evolutionary outcome of phenotypic diversification. In some carnivorous plants, the ancestral planar leaf has been modified to form a pitcher shape. However, how leaf ...

Scientists have determined how key developmental genes influence growth of cells to produce such differences in leaf form. The researchers were able to make thale cress, which typically produces ...

The preference of Heliconius butterflies for certain leaf shapes is innate, but can be reversed through learning. These results support a decades-old theory for explaining the evolution of the ...

Variation in the size and shape (physiognomy) of leaves has long been correlated to climate, and paleobotanists have used these correlations to reconstruct paleoclimate. Most studies focus on ...

Subtle changes in genetics can have major effects on how leaves grow into a wide variety of shapes. John Innes Centre Around the globe, plants have evolved to use their leaves for many purposes: broad ...

Environmentally induced heterophylly provides a useful model system for studying the developmental basis of differing leaf shapes. The semiaquatic Ranunculus flabellaris exhibits typical ...

PANAMA CITY, Panama, July 29 (UPI) --The evolutionary pressures of hunger, reproduction and pollination have driven a unique relationship between butterflies and plants. To encourage the faithfulness ...

“Leaves have evolved over millions of years to optimize light collection, transport of nutrients to and from the plant body, and mechanical stability against natural stresses,” says David Young a ...