The vascular plant body composed of root and shoot is specified during embryogenesis, but most flowering plants can also develop additional root systems post-embryonically: lateral roots, as a response to wounding, or shoot-borne roots (“adventitious” roots, literally meaning “in the wrong place”). The initiation mechanism of these roots as well as their parent tissue and […]
Unlike animal cells, plant cells cannot migrate due to the presence of interconnected rigid cell walls, thus plant development relies on a continuous supply of new cells, (fueled by the cell cycle) to form new organs throughout their life. This excellent review by Sablowski and Gutierrez focuses on the intricate regulatory networks and cell cycle […]
The ability to perceive and respond to mechanical stimuli and forces, such as gravity or touch, is an extremely well conserved property that is key for proper cellular function. This ability is fueled by mechanosensitive ion channels activated by mechanical disturbances in the membrane, which leads to flow of ions down their electrochemical gradients. In […]
Precise cell cycle control is essential for the differentiation of specialized cell types. Stomata, essential pores for gas exchange located in the epidermis, are generated via proliferative asymmetric cell division (ACD) of a transient stem cell called a meristemoid, which will give rise to a guard mother cell that will undergo a single symmetric cell […]
In multicellular organisms, stem cells produce various cell types through asymmetric cell division (ACD), which is achieved is through polarization of cell-fate determinant proteins in the ACD progenitor cells. In Arabidopsis stomatal development, an ACD progenitor cell, the meristemoid mother cell (MMC), produces daughter cells with different cell-fates: a meristemoid and a stomatal lineage ground […]
Master transcription factors (TFs) can activate specific genetic programs to reprogram cellular fate in the context of open chromatin. A special class of these proteins known as pioneer TFs are defined by their ability to trigger cell fate reprogramming by binding their cognate cis motifs in a nucleosome context both in vitro and in vivo, […]
Proper organogenesis depends on the precise control of cell proliferation and differentiation. Cytokinin and auxin have emerged as key regulators of both these processes, where cytokinin promotes proliferation and synergistically with auxin fine-tunes the proliferation and differentiation rate. Years of research and evidence have implicated cytokinin as a central regulator of stem cell proliferation in […]
Three-dimensional (3D) growth was an essential evolutionary innovation that allowed the radiation and diversification of land plants. In most land plants the transition from two-dimensional (2D) to 3D growth takes place during embryo development and its disruption results in lethality, however, the disruption of the 2D to 3D growth in Physcomitrella (Physcomitrium) patens is not […]
Plant reproduction and development requires robust signaling pathways that integrate environmental queues such as temperature. In Arabidopsis, the formation of flower primordia from the inflorescence meristem (IM) depends on the proliferation/ differentiation balance and is regulated by auxin and the conserved CLAVATA3 (CLV3) signaling pathway. CLV3 acts through many receptors to negatively regulate the WUSCHEL […]