Hey /sci/, I'm really interested in the branching patterns

That's a good question Anon.
There are many examples of things like this in nature that really should be looked into.
On a similar note I've always wondered how the brain is initially formatted - i.e. turns from a bundle of new cells into one of the most highly specialised computers in existance?

>>8231680
Yeah I think that question is in the same vein. Like what genetic/hormonal mechanism tells a plant cell it should start diving in a different direction to form a branch or what mechanism tells a neuron that it should be concerned with a certain type of stimulus.

I've always been reallt interested in how plants seem to mimic fractals. Like if you look at how the first branches come off of a stem and then look at how sub branches come off of other branches it's obviously the same pattern being repeated.

I'd love to know how a plant determines what fractal growth pattern it will use and when to stop making sub branches.

>>8231693
Ah well general growth patterns like that are mainly to maximise light-gathering potential for the smallest amount of growth, that boils down to mathematics.
Methinks plants behave a bit like a cellular automaton, cells will grow in certain directions based on some in-built rules. The patterns formed in their growth will be a result of these rules.

>>8231704
well yeah I get that part but I want to know what dictates the rules.

I'm a genetics major who's about to graduate and I'm trying to pursue my interests so I can try and come up with some kind of interesting research project to do during my masters. I'm not saying this is it, but I find that if I follow my interest far enough I usually come to something that would be at least somewhat relevant to research.

>>8231709
Indeed.
Sounds like a brilliant thing to study, may be slightly more work than a masters though, more of a PHD thesis and then some.

>>8231716
This is something that's really sparked my interest for a long time but I don't even know how to formulate the question in an coherent way.

It just seems to me like if you could understand the system that controls patterns of branching that you could being to tinker with plants on a structural way. Like, the lab I work in is really about increasing seed production but what if instead you doubled the amount of branches? Or what if you doubled the production of leaves so the plant had more energy to make seeds?

If I had a coherent way to formalize a question of how a plant does that, and if it could be altered to do that more than I know the person in charge of my lab would at least let met toy with it.

>>8231672
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14-NdQwKz9w

look up Fibonacci sequence and golden ratio and do some research on that youll learn a lot
also do primes and binaries

>>8231672
While it doesn't specifically describe the genetics of plants and how they govern branching patterns, "The Algorithmic Beauty of Plants" is a book on modelling branching patterns of growing flora which might be of interest to you. University of Calgary hosts a Biological Modeling and Visualization research group which does research on branching patterns. It's not from what I understand focused on genetics so it's maybe not what you're looking for.

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>>8231672