Belgian researchers reveal how carrots go through a puberty phase

Plants go through several developmental stages, starting as a seed, growing into a shoot, and eventually becoming a mature, fertile plant. They go through a kind of ‘puberty’ in which a young shoot changes its growth pattern, which is essential for survival and adaptation to the environment. By changing the direction in which cells divide, plants can grow more in width than in height, or vice versa. Between the first and third week of development, roots undergo many changes, the researchers discovered. Their research results in molecular insights into the age-dependent changes that occur during this phase. They found that a small chemical molecule can change the amount of the SPL13 protein in plant cells, which regulates the orientation of cell division and thus can change the growth pattern. The transition that results from SPL13 activity is characterized by distinct changes in the roots that are crucial for the overall development of the plant. Using an advanced ...