News from the John Innes Centre

How petals get their shape Why do rose petals have rounded ends while their leaves are more pointed? In a study to be published in open access journal PLOS Biology, John Innes Centre and University of East Anglia scientists reveal that the shape of petals and leaves is controlled by a hidden map located within [...]

Professor Enrico Coen from the John Innes Centre has been awarded €2.5M EU funding to explore the growth and evolution of carnivorous plants. “Carnivorous plants turn the normal order of nature upside down, eating animals instead of being eaten by them,” said Karen Lee, a researcher working on the project at the John Innes Centre. [...]

Why are some leaves curly, others spiky, and others flat? Listen to the recent BBC radio discussion, Forum, in which  John Innes scientist professor Enrico Coen discusses these questions with New York photographer Andrew Zuckerman, and ecology professor Lars Chittka. Bridget Kendall brings together these three experts to ponder some of nature’s mysteries. Enrico Coen [...]

Professor Enrico Coen of the John Innes Centre is the author of a new book that describes the unified principles behind the transformations that define life. What are the connections between evolving microbes, an egg that develops into an infant, a child who learns to walk and talk, and the rise of Ancient Rome? For [...]

Leaves come in all shapes and sizes. Scientists have discovered simple rules that control leaf shape during growth. Using this ‘recipe’, they have developed the first computer model able to accurately emulate leaf growth from a bud.  “A bud does not grow in all directions at the same rate,” said Samantha Fox from the John [...]

  The way in which plants space out the pores through which they breathe depends on keeping a protein active during stem cell growth, according to John Innes Centre scientists. Plant pores, called stomata, are essential for life. When they evolved about 400 million years ago, they helped plants conquer the land. Plants absorb carbon [...]

Scientists at the John Innes Centre and the University of East Anglia are pioneering a powerful combination of computer modelling and experimental genetics to work out how the complex shapes of organs found in nature are produced by the interacting actions of genes. Their findings will influence our thinking about how these complex shapes have [...]

JIC and The Sainsbury Laboratory (TSL) have launched a new Undergraduate Summer Research Training Programme (USRTP),which ran in July and August 2010. The programme was intended to promote science as a rewarding career by providing a students with a rare chance to experience scientific research outside of the university environment. The sixteen participants came from [...]