Recent Posts

Variegated Canvases: The Diverse World of Plant Shoot Stem Cells

Bradamante et al. investigate the heterogeneity of stem cells of the shoot apical meristem https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koad295 By Vu Nguyen, Gabriele Bradamante, Ortrun Mittelsten Scheid and Ruben Gutzat Background: In plants, stem cells in the shoot apical meristem (SAM) produce new organs…

Review: Stem cells for crop improvement

Plants, like animals, have small populations of stem cells capable of differentiating into other tissues, but in plants these stem cell populations are even more long-lived and versatile. Stem cells in plants include the meristems (shoot and root apical meristems, inflorescence and axillary meristems)…

Plant stem cells under low oxygen: metabolic rewiring by phytoglobin underlies stem cell functionality

When flooding occurs, soils become saturated and oxygen solubility and diffusion decreases. This situation creates a hypoxic environment in the roots that stresses the plant, causing significantly decreased growth. However, the quiescent center (QC) stem cells, located in the root apical meristem, are…

Regeneration finds a new friend

Bisht et al. Identify key factors in wound-activated regenerative cell division. Jefri Heyman1,2 and Lieven De Veylder1,2 1Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Ghent University, Ghent, B-9052, Belgium. 2VIB Center for Plant Systems Biology, Ghent, B-9052, Belgium. Background:…

Leaving the boundary behind to make a new branch

Nicolas et al. explore the mechanisms regulating CUP-SHAPED COTYLEDON expression in axillary meristem initiation. https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koac269 Antoine Nicolasa,b and Patrick Laufsa a Université Paris-Saclay, INRAE, AgroParisTech, Institut Jean-Pierre Bourgin (IJPB), 78000, Versailles,…

Concentration-dependent transcriptional switching through a collective action of cis-elements (Sci. Adv.)

One of the well-known molecular pathways that regulate plant development is the one formed by the homeobox transcription factor WUSCHEL (WUS) and the secreted peptide CLAVATA 3 (CLV3). In the shoot apical meristem (SAM), WUS expression is constrained to the organizing center where it maintains the stem…