Abstract Detail

Advances in Modelling Plant Development

Owens, Andrew Robert [1], Prusinkiewicz, Przemyslaw [1].

Towards a computational model of the development and diversity of inflorescences.

In many plant species, flowers are grouped into multi-flower assemblies: inflorescences. Botanical descriptions and computational models of inflorescences often focus on the architecture of the branching systems that support individual flowers. The arrangement of flowers is viewed as a result of this architecture. Unfortunately, this “branching first” model does not adequately describe dense inflorescences, in which individual flowers are closely packed. A striking example is that of corymbs, a common inflorescence type in which adjacent flowers form a nearly continuous, planar surface (we focus on common yarrow, Achillea millefolium). To understand such inflorescences, we propose a developmental model in which the distribution of flowers is determined first, by a patterning process operating on the surface of the shoot apical meristem, and the branching system supporting these flowers develops next, as a consequence of the distribution of flowers. Diverse inflorescence architectures result from variations in the parameter values of this process. At a molecular level, the model extends previously described processes involved in the patterning of flower primordia in the shoot apical meristem of Arabidopsis, tomato, and Brachypodium distachyon. The presentation will be illustrated using interactive simulations that visualize the principles of the proposed model, and the resulting developing inflorescence forms.

Related Links:
Algorithmic Botany

1 - University of Calgary, Computer Science, Calgary, AB

Keywords:
inflorescences
modelling.

Presentation Type: Symposium Presentation
Session: SY10
Location: Salon 13/The Shaw Conference Centre
Date: Tuesday, July 28th, 2015
Time: 2:45 PM
Number: SY10004
Abstract ID:547
Candidate for Awards:None