This is achieved by establishing secondary apical meristems that can produce new axes of
growth and harbor the same developmental potential as the primary meristems from which they were originally derived (De Smet et al., 2006; Leyser, 2009). In the aerial parts of higher plants, axillary meristems (AMs) are responsible for the production of new shoot axes, namely branches, from leaf axils (Leyser, 2009).