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FLOWER opening and closing video. These captivating videos do not distinguish between diurnal repetitive flower openings and first time bud openings, and they are different. https://vimeo.com/56810854 View in LinkedIn

GENETIC REGULATORS. "The formation of the pulvinus in legumes is likely to be regulated by a conserved genetic network orchestrated by the ELP1/APU/SLP1 genes. In the absence of these genes, the small, isodiametric, epidermal pulvinus cells with a highly convoluted surface are replaced by much larger and elongated petiole-like epidermal cells." Numerous studies of mutant flowers that cannot close at night led to this discovery. https://lnkd.in/eE__XBs View in LinkedIn

PURELY REPRODUCTIVE. "Flower opening and closure are traits of a reproductive syndrome, as it allows pollen removal and/or pollination. Various types of opening can be distinguished such as nocturnal and diurnal and single or repetitive." https://lnkd.in/eTgsM7f View in LinkedIn

IONS DRIVE WATER. "Swelling is caused by proton pump-driven accumulation in the cytoplasm of K+ and Cl−. This increase in solute concentration lowers water potential inside the cell, and thus drives the entrance of water in the cell. Shrinking is caused by a passive leaking of solutes that is accompanied by water loss. It is currently accepted that the osmotic volume changes of motor cells are analogous to those of stomatal guard cells." https://lnkd.in/eE__XBs View in LinkedIn

"FLOWERS EVOLVED FOR SEX. We associate animals like bees, bats, and birds with flowers today but most of these lineages came much later in the game. Exactly what was around pollinating early flowers remains a bit of a mystery as well. Were the earliest flowers wind pollinated or was there some insect or even reptile that served the selection pressure necessary for their evolution? Only time and more fossil discoveries will tell." https://lnkd.in/euP3eDr View in LinkedIn

MASSIVE WATER FLUX. "The pulvinus is the organ responsible for the nyctinastic leaf movement. It is a specialized structure located at the base of the petiole of leaves or the petiolule of leaflets in the case of compound leaves. During leaf opening, leaflets move downward by the simultaneous increase of turgor pressure in extensor and decrease in flexor cells. During closing, the inverse occurs, extensor cells shrink, and flexor cells swell, moving leaflets upward. These turgor changes in the motor cells are caused by ion movements followed by massive water flux across the plasma membrane." https://lnkd.in/eE__XBs View in LinkedIn

VAST STRUCTURAL DIVERSITY. "Flowers, the reproductive organs of angiosperms, are more varied than the equivalent structures of any other group of organisms. Because of this variation, interest in plant sexual diversity has a long and venerable history in biology. However, despite this attention, it is still not obvious why flowering plants have evolved such extraordinarily diverse means to achieve only one primary function — mating success." https://lnkd.in/eSndawa View in LinkedIn

"THE PULVINUS is an enlarged motor organ at the base of leaves found in many leguminous plants. It has been observed to force the movement of leaves in heliotropic, seismonastic, and nyctinastic patterns." https://lnkd.in/e9s_fPH View in LinkedIn

ABOMINABLE MYSTERY. "Darwin called their sudden appearance in the fossil record an “abominable mystery.” Since Darwin's time, we have been able to clarify that picture a little bit. Even so, our understanding of the origin of the angiosperm lineage is dubious at best. When and why did flowers evolve? There is scant fossil evidence to illustrate the early evolutionary steps in this development of flowers." https://lnkd.in/euP3eDr View in LinkedIn

"THE PERSISTENT LIFESTYLE allows the virus to transmit complex viral phenotypes to the host organism. This process, which changes both the genetic identity of the host and the identity of its persistent settler, enables the host to broaden its evolutionary adaptational potential and may promote the formation of new species." https://lnkd.in/euyhznh View in LinkedIn