Scientists Capture the Development of Flowers in 3D

Scientists have managed to chart the development of a flower in 3D. Monitoring the 14 developmental stages of Arabidopsis thaliana with micro-computed tomography, scientists have managed to learn a bit more about how flowers grow.

Flower development occurs after there's a fusion between the egg cell (ovule) and spermium. The ovule is safely protected inside the ovary while the spermium is mobile and transported via pollen to the female sexual organ. During fertilization, the sperm cell makes its way through the pollen tube toward the ovule and after successful fusion, an embryo develops.

Yet whether fertilization is successful or not depends largely on the correct timing of the metabolism. The metabolism provides all of the energy and biomass resources for the developmental processes. In addition, throughout these processes, the metabolic activities of the various developmental stages undergo dramatic changes.

The scientists used same set of developmental stages captured with the 3D images to create a full metabolic profile using mass spectrometry covering hundreds of biochemical pathways.

"Smallest changes in floral organ development were thus correlated with distinct metabolic profiles, and remarkable differences in metabolism were detected over the full development," said Wolfram Weckwerth, one of the researchers, in a news release.

In the beginning, a high activity of disaccharides and amino acid metabolism can be seen. In later stages, when the sexual organs become mature monosaccharides, organic acids and different amino acids accumulate. Then, the mature seed finally shows a complete metabolic profile.

The findings reveal a bit more about flower development. In addition, the scientists are planning future studies that will analyze the flower development in other angiosperm lineages to examine each specific ontogenetic signature and the trajectory of the combined metabolic and morphometric profile.

The findings are published in the journal New Phytologist.