Lateral shoot

A lateral shoot, commonly known as a branch, is a part of a plant's shoot system that develops from axillary buds on the stem's surface, extending laterally from the plant's stem.

Through testing with Arabidopsis thaliana (A plant considered a model organism for plant genetic studies) genes including MAX1 and MAX2 have been found to affect growth of lateral shoots.

[1] Another set of experiments with Arabidopsis thaliana testing genes in the plant hormone florigen, two genes FT and TSF (which are abbreviations for Flowering Locus T, and Twin Sister of FT) when knocked out, appear to affect lateral shoot in a negative fashion.

[2] Along with general growth there are also transcription factors that directly effect the production of additional lateral shoots like the TCP family (also known as Teosinte branched 1/cycloidea/proliferating cell factor) which are plant specific proteins that suppress lateral shoot branching.

[3] Additionally the TCP family has been found to be partially responsible for inhibiting the cell's Growth hormone–releasing hormone (GHRF) which means it also inhibits cell proliferation.