Abstract
Developmental biologists have long strived to understand how organisms acquire shape and form. The architecture of the mature plant is established during embryogenesis. They have learned much about how gene expression controls the specification of cell type and about how cells interact with one another to coordinate such specific decisions. Far less is known about autocatalytic feedback flow of resource molecules regulating a plant and its parts, shape and form. Indeed, it has even been proposed that the development of shape is not under genetic control but rather is determined by physical forces. Asymmetric development of sinks that depend on common resource pool has been viewed as a consequence of autocatalytic feedback process of flow of resource units into them. The feedback process implies that the stronger a sink is relative to its competitors, the greater is its probability of getting further resources as a non-linear function of its resource drawing ability and sink size. We have shown that this model contrasts with that of sink strength dependent model in its prediction of the subsequent development of the initial asymmetry of growing cotyledons of the tomato embryo (Lycopersicon esculentum L.), when their resource drawing ability is enhanced by exogenous application of the growth regulators (NAA, GA and BA), we test these prediction and show that the results are in conformity with the autocatalytic model proposed by Ganeshaiah and Uma Shaanker.
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Reddy, C. Asymmetric development of Cotyledons of Tomato Embryo: Testing the prediction of Self-Organization . Nat Prec (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/npre.2009.2989.1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/npre.2009.2989.1