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The case for morphogens in plants

Abstract

Plants and animals have evolved as multicellular organisms independently of one another. This raises the intriguing question of whether plants and animals have developed similar or distinct patterning strategies to establish their body plans. Animals use concentration gradients of signals termed morphogens for tissue patterning, but whether they are also used by plants is unclear. Here we compare and contrast the plant hormone auxin with animal morphogens, and speculate as to whether plants have independently evolved similar mechanisms to regulate pattern formation.

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Figure 1: Auxin concentration gradient and Aux/IAA gene expression in wood-forming tissues.
Figure 2: Tissue patterning, auxin gradients and polar auxin transport in the Arabidopsis root apex.

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Acknowledgements

We thank J. Friml, N. Geldner, M. Grebe, Y. Helariutta, S. May and J. Roberts for helpful discussion about the manuscript and I. Casimiro for help with the illustrations.

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Correspondence to Malcolm J. Bennett.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Bhalerao, R., Bennett, M. The case for morphogens in plants. Nat Cell Biol 5, 939–943 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/ncb1103-939

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