Cornell University
11/12/2025 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 11/12/2025 11:12
Randomness reveals hidden order in the plant world
In the intricate architecture of plant tissues, beauty often emerges from chaos, according to new research from Cornell researchers. Findings from a recent study show how randomness and growth together create the striking cellular patterns that shape plant organs-and perhaps all multicellular life.
Published in PLOS Biology Nov. 3, the studywas led by Frances K. Clark, a doctoral researcher in the lab of Adrienne Roeder, professor in the Section of Plant Biology in the School of Integrative Plant Science in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and professor at the Weill Institute for Cell and Molecular Biology. The research team discovered that the same genetic pathway producing "giant" cells in the protective cell layer covering Arabidopsisflowers also determines the patchwork of cell sizes in the leaves. The finding suggests a shared developmental logic-part chance, part self-organization-lies behind how plant cells arrange themselves in space.
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Giant pavement cells (in pink) clustered and surrounded by smaller plant cells (in green and blue).
Under a microscope, a leaf surface looks like a jigsaw of irregular shapes-some large, some small. Among them are the interlocking protective pavement cells, some of which average at least six times larger in area than their neighbors. These "giant" cells arise when DNA replicates repeatedly without division, a process called endoreduplication.
Clark and her colleagues asked whether these giant cells appeared randomly or followed a hidden pattern. Using high-resolution imaging and computational modeling, they found that the cells begin scattered at random but form clustered arrangements as tissues grow and expand.
Early on, the team observed that as new cells form, the giant cells erupt sporadically, triggered by random fluctuations in certain genes. As surrounding cells divide, the tissue geometry shifts, turning the random distribution into a seemingly structured pattern. The order, the team found, emerges not from communication between cells but from the combined effects of growth and chance.
"It's like scattering seeds," Clark said. "You start with randomness, but as the garden grows, patterns naturally appear."
The researchers identified a total of four genes-ACR4, ATML1, DEK1, and LGO-that work together to determine when and where cells become giant. Increasing LGO produced more giant cells, they found, while boosting ATML1 or LGO expanded the area they covered. In leaves, giant cells appeared on both surfaces; in plant sepals, they formed only on the lower side, showing how the same pathway can yield different outcomes depending on tissue context.
To test how randomness generates order, the team collaborated with Gauthier Weissbart and Pau Formosa-Jordan from the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research in Cologne, Germany. The extended team experimented with randomizations of the tissue, creating a computer model in which each cell's fate was determined independently by fluctuating ATML1 levels without any intercellular communication.
The model successfully recreated the clustered patterns seen in real tissues. Combined with live-imaging data, the simulations revealed that simple cell division can transform random beginnings into structured outcomes. "Order arises from randomness-not despite it, but becauseof it," Roeder said.
Most biological patterning systems-from animal stripes to plant hairs-depend on cells signaling to their neighbors, Clark said. "However, growth itself can be an organizing force," Clark added. "As tissues expand, even random cellular events can generate reproducible patterns."
Beyond plants, the findings highlight a broader principle: random gene expression, mechanical forces, and growth dynamics can interact to produce reliable form and function. The study offers a framework for exploring other systems where cell size or DNA content influences development, such as fruit growth or seed formation.
"In many systems, specialized cells form through careful spacing," Roeder said. "Plant hair cells and the guard cells around respiratory stomata, for example, are evenly separated so they don't touch. Giant cells are different, and their specification starts randomly."
Understanding how cells self-organize without direct communication could inspire new strategies for engineering plant tissues or designing synthetic biological systems that achieve complex structures with minimal coordination.
"Randomness isn't the opposite of order," Roeder said. "It's one of the forces that, together with growth, creates the intricate and functional patterns we see in nature."
Henry C. Smith is the communications specialist for Biological Systems at Cornell Research and Innovation.
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