(Ebook) Fruit development and seed dispersal (Annual Plant Reviews, Volume 38) by edited by Lars Østergaard. ISBN 9781405189460, 9781444314557, 1405189460, 1444314556

(Ebook) Fruit development and seed dispersal (Annual Plant Reviews, Volume 38) by edited by Lars Østergaard. ISBN 9781405189460, 9781444314557, 1405189460, 1444314556

The reproduction system of flowering plants (angiosperms) provides an extraordinary advantage, which has led to the massive dominance of this division over any other plant division on the planet. At the centre of angiosperm
reproduction is the carpel that protects and nurtures the seeds developing
inside until they are ready for dispersal. Different species have developed different strategies for efficient seed dispersal involving both short-range and
long-range aims allowing widespread colonization.

Fruit are, however, not only interesting from an agronomic point of view.
Both flowers and fruit are also ideal systems to study cell differentiation
processes and tissue-specific development that can answer general questions
regarding the development of multicellular organisms. In this book, the aim
is to cover the recent impressive advances of research into fruit development
and seed dispersal. Moreover, the objective is also to review the history of
crop domestication as well as the most novel discoveries in optimizing the
development of fruit of significant agricultural importance. 

The opening chapter describes the evolution of carpels and fruit among
the flowering plants and how this has led to a tremendous biodiversity of
forms in different angiosperm lineages. The following chapters describe in
detail the genetic, hormonal and molecular knowledge on the different stages
of development from the unfertilized flower till the mature fruit including
gynoecium development, ovule development, fruit initiation and the postfertilization fruit development. Chapter 6 reports on exciting new insight to
long distance seed dispersal, while Chapter 7 emphasizes the importance of
controlling seed dispersal for the establishment of agriculture and human
civilization. The eighth chapter provides a compilation of the most recent
discoveries in development and ripening of the agricultural important fleshy
fruit and finally, Chapter 9 shows how precision technology can be employed
to create seedless varieties in certain crop plants.