Fig. 3

Organ shape is generated by four types of cell behaviours: cell shape, cell proliferation, cell movement, and cell death. Cell shape: The elongate shape of neurons allows the central nervous system to convey information throughout the whole body. Cell proliferation: differing patterns of cell proliferation (cells in red) in the developing wings of the moth Manduca sexta and the butterfly Junonia coenia generate elongate versus triangular wings in the adults [176]. Cell movement: Invaginations are caused by apical constrictions in the lung epithelium (cells in red), and are responsible for producing the branching patterns of the lung tissue [177, 178]. Cell death: Programmed cell death in cells between the lateral and longitudinal veins in the leaves (cells in red) give the lace plant its lattice-like leaf shape [179, 180]