Phyllotaxis: from classical knowledge to molecular genetics

Fibonacci spirals may not need the Golden Angle

“…The regular arrangement of plant lateral organs, known as phyllotaxis, has been the subject of quantitative plant biology research for a long time (Adler et al, 1997; Barabé & Lacroix, 2020; Jean & Barabé, 1998; Yin, 2021). Yet, there remains many unresolved questions (Yin & Kitazawa, 2021), such as the rapid and de novo phyllotactic patterning in the capitulum (head) of Asteraceae.…”

“…Yet, there remains many unresolved questions (Yin & Kitazawa, 2021 ), such as the rapid and de novo phyllotactic patterning in the capitulum (head) of Asteraceae. Spiral and whorled are the two major phyllotaxis modes (Yin, 2021 ). In the spiral mode, two families of eye-catching winding spirals called parastichies (Figure 1a ) can be observed (Jean, 1994 ).…”

“…S5). Such evenly distributed maxima could be considered as whorled modes (Yin, 2021 ). With a certain range of lateral movement values towards the older neighbour, in contrast, the circular model predicts that the number of auxin maxima tends to be a Fibonacci number and maxima positions faithfully match the experimental observations (Figure 1d ; Zhang et al, 2021 ).…”

Beyond Fibonacci patterns and the golden angle: phyllotactic variations and their cellular origin

“…In particular we highlight patterns "outside" Fibonacci patterns and the evolutionary origins of phyllotaxis. Three review articles discussing general aspects (Yin 2021), stochasticities (Kitazawa 2021), and symmetries (Yonekura and Sugiyama 2021); and three original research articles focusing on pattern regeneration (Zhang et al 2021b), a new system for studying phyllotactic transitions (Zagórska-Marek et al 2021), and the origin of phyllotaxis (Kamamoto et al 2021), are included in this special issue.…”

“…Phyllotaxis is an old research field in plant morphology yet still being explored and advanced continuously. Yin (2021) gave an overview on this fascinating phenomenon, covering a broad spectrum from the knowledge in classical literature to recent findings in the regulation of phyllotaxis using molecular genetics approaches. In the first part, phyllotactic patterns, parameters, transitions, and diversity were reviewed.…”