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Vascular Biology: Typical Growth and Vascular Variants
Most woody plants share a conserved pattern of vascular organization in stems and roots known as typical growth, in which vascular tissues form a continuous cylinder produced by a single vascular cambium. In other plants, these tissues develop in alternative arrangements, producing a diversity of structures collectively known as vascular variants. Far from rare anomalies, vascular variants underlie many functional architectures across seed plants (see examples below).
Typical growth
Vascular variants
Drawing by
Rubens Ito​​
Red texture = water-conducting tissue
Blue texture = sugar-conducting tissue
The diversity of vascular patterns in seed plants has recently been synthesized within the vascular variants framework (Cunha-Neto 2023, AoB PLANTS), which provides an evolutionary–developmental concept for classifying alternative trajectories of vascular development in plants. Building on this framework, our research aims to understand the biology of vascular variants and their contributions to functional diversity in both wild and cultivated species.
From the Vascular Variants Framework to a Living Database​
To facilitate comparative research and standardize terminology, we established the Plant Vascular Variants Database, which compiles information on structural patterns and phylogenetic distribution of vascular variants across seed plants.
The database documents the global distribution of vascular variants across seed plant lineages (Fig. 1) and includes taxon-specific datasets for groups in which these traits have been more thoroughly studied.
Explore the Plant Vascular Variants Database here!
Fig. 1. Distribution of Vascular Variants Across Seed Plants (monocots are only partially included).
Building an Experimental System to Study the Genetic Basis of Vascular Variants
In the Plant Growth Lab, we are developing the first experimental system to investigate the genetic and developmental basis of vascular variants. This work connects fundamental questions in plant development and evolution with research in species of agricultural importance.
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Our system focuses on beets, whose concentric root rings result from ectopic cambia—a form of vascular variant. Beet domestication favored genes associated with this developmental pattern, making it a powerful model for studying the genetic basis of vascular variants and their roles in traits such as storage and environmental adaptation.
Drawing by Karla Menezes​​
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