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Sci. STKE, 4 March 2003
Vol. 2003, Issue 172, p. tw96
[DOI: 10.1126/scisignal.1722003tw96]

EDITORS' CHOICE

Differentiation How to Stay Flat

Although development is the sum of its parts, the theoretical principles that enforce its coherence have been hard to observe. Nath et al. (see the Perspective by McConnell and Barton) analyze the growth of the snapdragon leaf and find that the shape of the leaf is determined by the shape of a wave of differentiation that passes from the tip to the base of the leaf. Molecular analysis of a mutation in the gene CINCINNATA, which results in crinkly leaves, combined with theory to generate insights into how cell cycle arrest in individual cells can be coordinated to generate the desired leaf shape.

U. Nath, B. C. W. Crawford, R. Carpenter, E. Coen, Genetic control of surface curvature. Science 299, 1404-1407 (2003). [Abstract] [Full Text]

J. R. McConnell, M. K. Barton, Leaf development takes shape. Science 299, 1328-1329 (2003). [Summary] [Full Text]

Citation: How to Stay Flat. Sci. STKE 2003, tw96 (2003).

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