{"title":"Illuminating the molecular mechanisms underlying shoot apical meristem homeostasis in plants.","authors":"Akie Shimotohno","doi":"10.5511/plantbiotechnology.22.0213a","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5511/plantbiotechnology.22.0213a","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Unlike animals, terrestrial plants are sessile and able to give rise to new organs throughout their lifetime. In the most extreme cases, they can survive for over a thousand years. With such protracted life cycles, plants have evolved sophisticated strategies to adapt to variable environments by coordinating their morphology as well as their growth, and have consequently acquired a high degree of developmental plasticity, which is supported by small groups of long-lived stem cells found in proliferative centers called meristems. Shoot apical meristems (SAMs) contain multipotent stem cells and provide a microenvironment that ensures both a self-renewable reservoir, to produce primordia and sustain growth, and a differentiating population that develops into all of the above-ground organs of land plants. The homeodomain transcription factor <i>WUSCHEL</i> (<i>WUS</i>) is expressed in the organizing center and acts as a master regulator to govern shoot stem cell homeostasis. In this review, I highlight recent advances in our understanding of the molecular mechanisms and signaling networks that underlie SAM maintenance, and discuss how plants utilize WUS to integrate intrinsic and extrinsic cues.</p>","PeriodicalId":520754,"journal":{"name":"Plant biotechnology (Tokyo, Japan)","volume":" ","pages":"19-28"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2022-03-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9200092/pdf/plantbiotechnology-39-1-22.0213a.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"40480209","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Evolution of root nodule symbiosis: Focusing on the transcriptional regulation from the genomic point of view.","authors":"Kai Battenberg, Makoto Hayashi","doi":"10.5511/plantbiotechnology.22.0127a","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5511/plantbiotechnology.22.0127a","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Since molecular phylogenetics recognized root nodule symbiosis (RNS) of all lineages as potentially homologous, scientists have tried to understand the \"when\" and the \"how\" of RNS evolution. Initial progress was made on understanding the timing of RNS evolution, facilitating our progress on understanding the underlying genomic changes leading to RNS. Here, we will first cover the different hypotheses on the timings of gains/losses of RNS and show how this has helped us understand how RNS has evolved. Finally, we will discuss how our improved understanding of the genetic changes that led to RNS is now helping us refine our understanding on when RNS has evolved.</p>","PeriodicalId":520754,"journal":{"name":"Plant biotechnology (Tokyo, Japan)","volume":" ","pages":"79-83"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2022-03-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9200091/pdf/plantbiotechnology-39-1-22.0127a.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"40594323","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Competitive action between Brassinosteroid and tracheary element differentiation inhibitory factor in controlling xylem cell differentiation.","authors":"Yuki Kondo","doi":"10.5511/plantbiotechnology.21.1109a","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5511/plantbiotechnology.21.1109a","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>For permanent secondary growth in plants, cell proliferation and differentiation should be strictly controlled in the vascular meristem consisting of (pro)cambial cells. A peptide hormone tracheary element differentiation inhibitory factor (TDIF) functions to inhibit xylem differentiation, while a plant hormone brassinosteroid (BR) promotes xylem differentiation in (pro)cambial cells. However, it remains unclear how TDIF and BR cooperate to regulate xylem differentiation for the proper maintenance of the vascular meristem. In this study, I developed an easy evaluation method for xylem differentiation frequency in a vascular induction system Vascular cell Induction culture System Using Arabidopsis Leaves (VISUAL) by utilizing a xylem-specific luciferase reporter line. In this quantitative system, TDIF suppressed and BR promoted xylem differentiation in a dose-dependent manner, respectively. Moreover, simultaneous treatment of TDIF and BR with (pro)cambial cells revealed that they can cancel their each other's effect on xylem differentiation, suggesting a competitive relationship between TDIF and BR. Thus, mutual inhibition of \"ON\" and \"OFF\" signal enables the fine-tuned regulation of xylem differentiation in the vascular meristem.</p>","PeriodicalId":520754,"journal":{"name":"Plant biotechnology (Tokyo, Japan)","volume":" ","pages":"59-64"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2022-03-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9200088/pdf/plantbiotechnology-39-1-21.1109a.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"40594325","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Abscisic acid switches cell division modes of asymmetric cell division and symmetric cell division in stem cells of protonemal filaments in the moss <i>Physcomitrium patens</i>.","authors":"Akihiko Hiroguchi, Kohei Nakamura, Tomomichi Fujita","doi":"10.5511/plantbiotechnology.22.0107a","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5511/plantbiotechnology.22.0107a","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Multicellular organisms regulate cell numbers and cell fate by using asymmetric cell division (ACD) and symmetric cell division (SCD) during their development and to adapt to unfavorable environmental conditions. A stem cell self-renews and generates differentiated cells. In plants, various types of cells are produced by ACD or SCD; however, the molecular mechanisms of ACD or SCD and the cell division mode switch are largely unknown. The moss <i>Physcomitrium</i> (<i>Physcomitrella</i>) <i>patens</i> is a suitable model to study plant stem cells due to its simple anatomy. Here, we report the cell division mode switch induced by abscisic acid (ABA) in <i>P. patens</i>. ABA is synthesized in response to abiotic stresses and induces round-shape cells, called brood cells, from cylindrical protonemal cells. Although two daughter cells with distinct sizes were produced by ACD in a protonemal stem cell on ABA-free media, the sizes of two daughter cells became similar with ABA treatment. Actin microfilaments were spatially localized on the apices of apical stem cells in protonemata on ABA-free media, but the polar accumulation was lost under the condition of ABA treatment. Moreover, ABA treatment conferred an identical cell fate to the daughter cells in terms of cell division activity. Collectively, the results indicate ABA may suppress the ACD characteristics but evoke SCD in cells. We also noticed that ABA-induced brood cells not only self-renewed but regenerated protonemal cells when ABA was removed from the media, suggesting that brood cells are novel stem cells that are induced by environmental signals in <i>P. patens</i>.</p>","PeriodicalId":520754,"journal":{"name":"Plant biotechnology (Tokyo, Japan)","volume":" ","pages":"13-17"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2022-03-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9200082/pdf/plantbiotechnology-39-1-22.0107a.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"40594329","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}