The Summary of Plant Branching

Shoot branching of plant is a high-plastic development process. Plant branching affects plants' light harvesting potential, the synchrony of flowering and seed set, and ultimately affects the success of plants' reproduction. In the process, axillary buds are formed in the axil of each leaf and may subsequently be activated to give branches. Plant branching is controlled by genes and plant hormones, e.g. auxins, cytokinins and strigolactones (or strigolactone derivatives), and is also environmentally regulated. In this short review, we summarize the progress in basic characters of plant branching and the factors in influencing shoot branching.