Growth and development. Plants from genes: towards the information network

Abstract

This third growth and development issue of Current Opinion in Plant Biology marks the turn of the millennium, which naturally makes one muse about the wider significance of plant development. At this point, our planetary ecosystem has reached a critical stage, in which a man-made environment changed by mankind is imposed on all living species. Against this background, it will become utterly necessary to understand the biology of plants because they, crops and wild species alike, are being forced to develop under changing conditions. Increasing knowledge of development can help to monitor the state of affairs in the plant kingdom and deliver unmistakable warning signs when the potential to cope with change approaches its limits. If we can apply developmental information in this environmental context, their utility may extend well beyond the agricultural or industrial progress often taken to be the only measure of the success of plant science.