PLETHORA transcription factors orchestrate de novo organ patterning during Arabidopsis lateral root outgrowth
Lateral root development in plants is a complex process that involves co-ordination of several molecular components to initiate the formation of meristematic cells. Uncovering the details of these processes is confounded by functional redundancy and tight cyclic regulation of different components in the process. Du and Scheres have recently beautifully elucidated these sequential phenomenon and showed the role of PLETHORA transcription factors in the orchestration of new growth during organ development. They identified master transcription factors involved in triggering the formative cell division, maintening the auxin response maxima and activating and regulating meristematic genes in a tissue-specific manner. The authors show that PLT genes are regulated in two different sets during lateral root growth. The early PLTs (PLT3,5,7) are responsible for generation of inner and outer cell layers and also co-ordinate the activation of the late PLTs (PLT1,2,4) that achieve the further formation of the de novo meristem. (Summary by Amey Redkar) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 10/11/1714410114.abstract
