From the morphogenetic point of view, differential growth is understood as the division and non-symmetrical increase of tissues, cells, organs and progenies in the same species. In the case of the human species, growth and development follow a standard and irreversible pattern of increase in size mediated by cell proliferation, which later generates the physiological and motor structures responsible for all the biological work of our species.

However, this model of growth and development through a standard growth pattern exhibited by the human species is not the same for plant species, since plants change their growth habits due to genetic information and soil and climatic conditions.

According to biological inferences, the way in which plants grow depends to a great extent on the environment, however, each plant species has a particular and recognizable morphology, which reveals that we know little about how responses to the environment are integrated with the genetic mechanisms that give plants their basic shape and structural characteristics.

In this regard, recent studies have shown that the architecture and growth habit of plants is imposed by two different types of genes, namely ATH1 and DELLA, which according to experimental data work in parallel to generate differential growth patterns in plant species.

These findings may contribute to the knowledge of morphological characters associated with eco-physiological behaviors useful in the selection of genotypes suitable for establishing crops of food interest and even more so in the current context of accelerated climate change.

[1] Huang C., Wang Z., and Suresh S Differential growth and shape formation in plant organs. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Article: Online access

[2] Sablowski R Shedding light on the long and the short of plant growth. Article: Online access