Interactions of growth and pattern formation mechanisms in plant development

随着生物体的生长，基因表达模式出现，这有助于形成各种器官和结构。基因表达和形态之间的相互作用是复杂的，很少了解。部分问题在于缺乏定量评估组织生长和图案化的方法。 叶提供了一个特别有趣的系统，用于研究生长和图案之间的关系，因为静脉图案的形成和叶的生长是密切相关的，植物激素生长素在这两个过程中起着重要作用。 本研究旨在定量研究植物生长素运输、生长和脉型形成之间的联系。首先，我将使用我开发的静脉图案分析软件研究随着叶子生长导致静脉形成的间隔机制。其次，我将调查的一般性模式机制之间的物种，叶片和花瓣，在三个模式物种。第三，我将开发一种方法来监测叶片生长过程中的静脉图案化阶段的叶片发育，这将使人们有可能测试静脉图案和生长之间的相互作用定量。第四，我将研究生长素流动方向对细胞极性和生长的影响，使用植物细胞培养。 这项工作将带来新的见解静脉图案的形成和生长过程，并将提供一个强有力的基础上探索图案形成机制，利用模拟建模。我们相信，计算和实验工作的结合使用将是理解植物形态发生机制的关键工具。潜在的应用包括园艺和作物改良，因为植物脉管系统与植物形态和生物量密切相关。我们也相信这项研究将对整个发育生物学领域产生重大影响，因为它代表了研究生长和模式形成之间关系的首次尝试之一。植物生物学以外的应用领域包括癌症生物学（肿瘤形态发生的控制）。

As an organism grows, patterns of gene expression emerge which are instrumental in shaping a variety of organs and structures. Interactions between gene expression and morphology are complex and little understood. Part of the problem lies in a lack of methods for assessing tissue growth and patterning quantitatively.  Leaves provide a particularly interesting system for investigating the relationships between growth and patterning, as vein pattern formation and leaf growth are closely coupled, and the plant hormone auxin plays a major role in both processes.  This proposal aims at investigating the link between auxin transport, growth and vein pattern formation in a quantitative way. First, I will investigate spacing mechanisms leading to vein formation as leaves grow, using vein pattern analysis software I developed. Second, I will investigate the generality of patterning mechanisms between species, and between leaves and petals, in three model species. Third, I will develop a method for monitoring leaf growth during the vein patterning phase of leaf development, which will make it possible to test the interactions between vein patterning and growth quantitatively. Fourth, I will investigate the effect of auxin flow direction on cell polarity and growth using plant cell cultures.  This work will bring new insights in vein pattern formation and growth processes, and will provide a strong basis for exploring pattern formation mechanisms using simulation modeling. We believe that the combined use of computational and experimental work will be a key instrument for understanding mechanisms of plant morphogenesis. Potential applications include horticulture and crop amelioration, as plant vasculature is closely related to plant morphology and biomass. We also believe this research will have a major impact in the field of developmental biology as a whole, as it represents one of the first attempts to investigate the relations between growth and pattern formation. Domains of application outside plant biology include cancer biology (control of tumor morphogenesis).