No abstract

The capacity for somatic embryogenesis was studied in lec1, lec2 and fus3 mutants of Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh. It was found that contrary to the response of wild-type cultures, which produced somatic embryos via an efficient, direct process (65-94% of responding explants), lec mutants were strongly impaired in their embryogenic response. Cultures of the mutants formed somatic embryos at a low frequency, ranging from 0.0 to 3.9%. Moreover, somatic embryos were formed from callus tissue through an indirect route in the lec mutants. Total repression of embryogenic potential was observed in double (lec1 lec2, lec1 fus3, lec2 fus3) and triple (fus3 lec1 lec2) mutants. Additionally, mutants were found to exhibit efficient shoot regenerability via organogenesis from root explants. These results provide evidence that, besides their key role in controlling many different aspects of Arabidopsis zygotic embryogenesis, LEC/FUS genes are also essential for in vitro somatic embryogenesis induction. Furthermore, temporal and spatial patterns of auxin distribution during somatic embryogenesis induction were analyzed using transgenic Arabidopsis plants expressing GUS driven by the DR5 promoter. Analysis of data indicated auxin accumulation was rapid in all tissues of the explants of both wild type and the lec2-1 mutant, cultured on somatic embryogenesis induction medium containing 2,4-D. This observation suggests that loss of embryogenic potential in the lec2 mutant in vitro is not related to the distribution of exogenously applied auxin and LEC genes likely function downstream in auxin-induced somatic embryogenesis.

The LEAFY COTYLEDON2 (LEC2) transcription factor with a plant-specific B3 domain plays a central role in zygotic and somatic embryogenesis (SE). LEC2 overexpression induced in planta leads to spontaneous somatic embryo formation, but impairs the embryogenic response of explants cultured in vitro under auxin treatment. The auxin-related functions of LEC2 appear during SE induction, and the aim of the present study was to gain further insights into this phenomenon. To this end, the effect of LEC2 overexpression on the morphogenic responses of Arabidopsis explants cultured in vitro under different auxin treatments was evaluated. The expression profiles of the auxin biosynthesis genes were analysed in embryogenic cultures with respect to LEC2 activity. The results showed that LEC2 overexpression severely modifies the requirement of cultured explants for an exogenous auxin concentration at a level that is effective in SE induction and suggested an increase in the auxin content in 35S::LEC2-GR transgenic explants. The assumption of an LEC2 promoted increase in endogenous auxin in cultured explants was further supported by the expression profiling of the genes involved in auxin biosynthesis. The analysis indicated that YUCCAs and TAA1, working in the IPA-YUC auxin biosynthesis pathway, are associated with SE induction, and that the expression of three YUCCA genes (YUC1, YUC4 and YUC10) is associated with LEC2 activity. The results also suggest that the IAOx-mediated auxin biosynthesis pathway involving ATR1/MYB34 and CYP79B2 does not seem to be involved in SE induction. We conclude that de novo auxin production via the tryptophan-dependent IPA-YUC auxin biosynthesis pathway is implicated in SE induction, and that LEC2 plays a key role in this mechanism.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00425-013-1892-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Molecular mechanisms controlling plant totipotency are largely unknown and studies on somatic embryogenesis (SE), the process through which already differentiated cells reverse their developmental program and become embryogenic, provide a unique means for deciphering molecular mechanisms controlling developmental plasticity of somatic cells. Among various factors essential for embryogenic transition of somatic cells transcription factors (TFs), crucial regulators of genetic programs, are believed to play a central role. Herein, we used quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) to identify TF genes affected during SE induced by in vitro culture in Arabidopsis thaliana. Expression profiles of 1,880 TFs were evaluated in the highly embryogenic Col-0 accession and the non-embryogenic tanmei/emb2757 mutant. Our study revealed 729 TFs whose expression changes during the 10-days incubation period of SE; 141 TFs displayed distinct differences in expression patterns in embryogenic versus non-embryogenic cultures. The embryo-induction stage of SE occurring during the first 5 days of culture was associated with a robust and dramatic change of the TF transcriptome characterized by the drastic up-regulation of the expression of a great majority (over 80%) of the TFs active during embryogenic culture. In contrast to SE induction, the advanced stage of embryo formation showed attenuation and stabilization of transcript levels of many TFs. In total, 519 of the SE-modulated TFs were functionally annotated and transcripts related with plant development, phytohormones and stress responses were found to be most abundant. The involvement of selected TFs in SE was verified using T-DNA insertion lines and a significantly reduced embryogenic response was found for the majority of them. This study provides comprehensive data focused on the expression of TF genes during SE and suggests directions for further research on functional genomics of SE.