Flowers grow perfectly despite chaotic gene behaviour

Nursery Today    28-May-2025
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Amsterdam: Flowers always look to grow as per the perfect order and time. Each part of the flower, such as the petal, stem, and leaf, appears to follow all the processes flawlessly. But it is a misconception, as a new study from Cornell University reveals that, inside the plant’s cells, things are full of confusion. Experts did the study on a flowering plant called Arabidopsis thaliana to explore a process known as stochastic gene expression. It means when cells get the same indications and the cells receive the same signals, such as a growth hormone called auxin, their genes don’t remain stagnant; they may turn on or off at random.
 

Surprisingly, the scientists found that cells responded very differently to the same hormone. Some genes activated in some cells, while others stayed silent—without any clear reason. This randomness, or “noise,” was not just minor—it played a big role.

To study this, scientists used glowing markers to track three auxin-related genes. One gene, DR5, showed major differences between cells. Yet, despite this gene activity chaos, the plant still formed its flower parts—especially the four outer green parts called sepals—in the same perfect pattern every time.

 

How? The answer is spatial averaging. While individual cells behave unpredictably, groups of cells work together and “average out” the randomness. This allows the plant to create stable, reliable shapes.

 

The research has made it clear that nature can’t evade randomness—it works with it. This finding is expected to help scientists in numerous other fields, such as synthetic biology, plant engineering, and cancer research, where gene activity sometimes starts behaving differently or abnormally.

 
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