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Inaugural Article
DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY
The genetics of geometry

Enrico Coen ^*, , Anne-Gaëlle Rolland-Lagan ^*, , Mark Matthews , J. Andrew Bangham , and Przemyslaw Prusinkiewicz 

^*Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, John Innes Centre, Colney Lane, Norwich NR4 7UH, United Kingdom; School of Computing Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, United Kingdom; and Department of Computer Science, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive N.W., Calgary, AB, Canada T2N 1N4

Contributed by Enrico Coen, December 5, 2003

Although much progress has been made in understanding how gene expression patterns are established during development, much less is known about how these patterns are related to the growth of biological shapes. Here we describe conceptual and experimental approaches to bridging this gap, with particular reference to plant development where lack of cell movement simplifies matters. Growth and shape change in plants can be fully described with four types of regional parameter: growth rate, anisotropy, direction, and rotation. A key requirement is to understand how these parameters both influence and respond to the action of genes. This can be addressed by using mechanistic models that capture interactions among three components: regional identities, regionalizing morphogens, and polarizing morphogens. By incorporating these interactions within a growing framework, it is possible to generate shape changes and associated gene expression patterns according to particular hypotheses. The results can be compared with experimental observations of growth of normal and mutant forms, allowing further hypotheses and experiments to be formulated. We illustrate these principles with a study of snapdragon petal growth.

See accompanying Biography on page 4725.

To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: enrico.coen{at}bbsrc.ac.uk.

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Inaugural Article: Biography of Enrico Coen

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PNAS 2004 101: 4725-4727. [Extract] [Full Text]  

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