Abstract
Variation in leaf shape contributes significantly to morphological biodiversity in seed plants. Recently, the genetic controls of leaf shape have been elucidated from studies of Arabidopsis. Nevertheless, some researchers feel that research on Arabidopsis alone is insufficient for understanding all the morphogenetic systems in seed plants. For example, some Gesneriaceae develop an unusual organ, called the 'phyllomorph', which is not found in Arabidopsis. However, detailed analysis suggested that the developmental of the phyllomorph can be understood as a combined program for a shoot and a leaf. Moreover, we isolated the bop mutant, which develops leaves with some features of the phyllomorph (Ha et al. 2003). Based on studies of leaf morphogenesis in Arabidopsis (Tsukaya 2002), I will discuss the validity of Arabidopsisresearch for understanding seed plants.
References
Ha et al. (2003). Development 130: 161-172.
Tsukaya (2002). http://www.aspb.org/downloads/arabidopsis/tsukaya.pdf
