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The coloration of butterflies that exhibit human visible iridescence from violet to green has been elucidated. Highly tilted multilayers of cuticle on the ridges, which were found in the scales of male S. charonda and E. mulciber butterflies, produce a limited-view, selective wavelength iridescence (ultraviolet (UV)~green) as a result of multiple interference between the cuticle-air layers. The iridescence from C. ataxus originates from multilayers in the groove plates between the ridges and ribs. The interference takes place between the top and bottom surfaces of each layer and incoherently between different layers. Consequently, the male with the layers that are ~270 nm thick reflects light of UV~560 nm (green) and the female with the layers that are ~191 nm thick reflects light of UV~400 nm (violet). T. aeacus does not produce the iridescent sheen which T. magellanus does. No iridescent sheen is ascribed to microrib layers, which are perpendicular to the scale plane, so that they cannot reflect any backscattering. The structures of these butterflies would provide us helpful hints to manipulate light in photoelectric devices, such as blue or UV LEDs.

Leaf cells undergo two main developmental events; i.e., cell proliferation and cell differentiation, before maturation. These events occur sequentially at specific positions and with specific timing during leaf development. To understand the transition from cell proliferation to cell differentiation of rice leaves, we analyzed rice leaves from both morphological and molecular viewpoints. The results of anatomical, morphological, and histochemical analyses indicated that P4 leaf primordium is the stage when dynamic transition of the cellular state from immature to mature along the proximal-distal axis of the leaf occurs. We screened for marker genes showing a dynamic expression pattern along the proximal-distal axis of the P4 leaf, and applied them to expression analysis in wild-type and various morphogenetic mutants. The changes in expression pattern of the marker genes varied between developmental stages and between mutants. Our analysis reinforced previous data regarding the developmental transition of wild-type rice leaves and indicated that the transition can be monitored using our molecular markers. The results of this study indicate that expression analysis using these molecular markers would be valuable for understanding the genetic effects on leaf development in various leaf morphogenetic mutants.

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Coconut (Cocos nucifera L.) is widely recognized as one of nature’s most beneficial plants. Makapuno, a special type of coconut with a soft, jelly-like endosperm, is a high-value commercial coconut and an expensive delicacy with a high cost of planting material. The embryo rescue technique is a very useful tool to support mass propagation of makapuno coconut. Nevertheless, transplanting the seedlings is a challenge due to poor root development, which results in the inability of the plant to acclimatize. In this study, primary root excision was used in makapuno to observe the effects of primary root excision on lateral root development. The overall results showed that seedlings with roots excised had a significantly higher number of lateral roots, and shoot length also increased significantly. Using de novo transcriptome assembly and differential gene expression analysis, we identified 512 differentially expressed genes in the excised and intact root samples. ERF071, encoding an ethylene-responsive transcription factor, was identified as a highly expressed gene in excised roots compared to intact roots, and was considered a candidate gene associated with lateral root formation induced by root excision in makapuno coconut. This study provides insight into the mechanism and candidate genes involved in the development of lateral roots in coconut, which may be useful for the future breeding and mass propagation of makapuno coconut through tissue culture.