Two-step mechanism of spiral phyllotaxis.

J Theor Biol

Department of International Health and Medical Anthropology, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Nagasaki University, Nagasaki 852-8523, Japan; Department of Biological Sciences, Tokyo Metropolitan University, Hachioji, Tokyo 192-0397, Japan; The University Museum, University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo

Published: January 2021


Category Ranking

98%

Total Visits

921

Avg Visit Duration

2 minutes

Citations

20

Article Abstract

Fibonacci numbers such as 5, 8, and 13 occur in the spiral arrangement of lateral organs at shoot tips in plants. While the cone scales of conifers are normally arranged in 5 and 8 (or 8 and 13) curved rows in opposite directions, other numbers such as 4 and 7 (or 7 and 11) are found anomalously. The observed numbers still obey the Fibonacci rule, with the next number being the sum of the preceding two. Although these observations have been made for centuries, the underlying mechanisms of the numerical relationship have not been investigated. Here, we show that this phenomenon is caused by a two-step mechanism: (1) maintenance of a constant angle between consecutive lateral organs and (2) strong canalization of this angle to a specific value. The first step of the mechanism precedes the second step of the mechanism because the Fibonacci-rule pattern is due to the first step, while the second step distinguishes normal, anomalous and unobserved types. The current dominance of the normal type is a result of the evolutionary process of the second step.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jtbi.2020.110484DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

second step
12
two-step mechanism
8
lateral organs
8
step mechanism
8
step
5
mechanism spiral
4
spiral phyllotaxis
4
phyllotaxis fibonacci
4
fibonacci numbers
4
numbers occur
4

Similar Publications

Effective removal of trace heavy metal ions from aqueous bodies is a pressing problem and requires significant improvement in the area of absorbent material in terms of removal efficiency and sustainability. We propose an efficient strategy to enhance the adsorption efficiency of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) by growing dendrimers on their surface. First, CNTs were pre-functionalized with maleic acid (MA) via Diels-Alder reaction in presence of a deep eutectic solvent under ultrasonication.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

This work elucidates the thermo-kinetics of the thermal conversion of cameroonian kaolin to metakaolin as the main product. The thermokinetical parameters (activation energy and pre-exponential factor ) for the kaolin conversion were calculated using model-free methods, the Kissinger-Akahira-Sunrose (KAS) and the Flynn-Wall-Ozawa (FWO) method, and differential methods (Kissinger and Ozawa) additionally including iterative procedures for KAS and FWO methods (KAS-Ir; FWO-Ir). The cameroonian kaolin was heat-treated using three different heating rates, 5, 20 and 40 K min, leading to metakaolin samples named MK-(5), MK-(20) and MK-(40).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Paediatric patients who underwent surgery for mitral regurgitation (MR) have a high risk of recurrence or death; however, no prediction tool has been developed to risk-stratify this challenging subpopulation.

Methods: In this multicentre cohort study, paediatric patients undergoing surgery for congenital MR in Shanghai Children's Medical Center in January 1st, 2009-December 31st, 2022 were included for analysis while those had a combination with infective endocarditis, anomalous left coronary artery from the pulmonary artery, rheumatic valvular disease, connective tissue disease, or single ventricle were excluded. A Cox regression model predictive of the primary outcome (a composite of mortality or mitral valve [MV] re-operation) was derived and converted to a point-based risk score.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Aim: The purpose of this study was to assess the accuracy of a customized deep learning model based on CNN and U-Net for detecting and segmenting the second mesiobuccal canal (MB2) of maxillary first molar teeth on cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) scans.

Methodology: CBCT scans of 37 patients were imported into 3D slicer software to crop and segment the canals of the mesiobuccal (MB) root of the maxillary first molar. The annotated data were divided into two groups: 80% for training and validation and 20% for testing.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Anxiety symptoms during pregnancy are a frequent mental health issue for expectant mothers and fathers. Research revealed that prenatal anxiety symptoms can impact parent-child bonding and child development. This study aims to investigate the prospective relationship between prenatal anxiety symptoms and general child development and whether it is mediated by parent-child bonding.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF