Coupe virtuelle d'un bouton floral avec les différents types de cellules

Virtual cross-section of a flower bud of thale cress (arabidopsis thaliana), in which the various cell types that will produce the flower organs have been artificially coloured. To obtain these images, scientists digitised a real-life cross-section. The colouring was achieved by applying a colour code based on the cell types. This representation gives an at-a-glance visual overview of the gene expression data, obtained using various methods (including in situ hybridisation and confocal imaging). By this means, scientists are able to artificially superimpose the expression of several dozen genes, and define very precise cell areas that express a particular gene group and therefore have the same molecular identity.