Embryogenic Transformation of the Suspensor in twin, a Polyembryonic Mutant of Arabidopsis

Vernon, Daniel M.; Meinke, David W.

doi:10.1006/dbio.1994.1276

Cited by 140 publications

(106 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Mayer et al, 1991) has highlighted the importance of interregional communication in the regulation of pattern formation. Analysis of the sus and twin mutants classes, in which the basally located suspensor cells proliferate after cellular defects become visible in the embryo proper (Vernon and Meinke, 1994;Schwartz et al, 1994;Zhang and Somerville, 1997) and of bdl (bodenlos) and mp (monopteros) mutants, which show initial apical cell division defects and subsequent failure to initiate a root meristem from a clonally distinct cell population (Berleth and Jü rgens, 1993;Hamann et al, 1999), led to the hypothesis that the apical region of the embryo exerts significant control over the development of the basal region of the embryo and the suspensor.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Diphtheria Toxin-Mediated Cell Ablation Reveals Interregional Communication during Arabidopsis Seed Development

et al. 2003

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Fertilization of the female gametophyte in angiosperm plants initiates a process of coordinated development of embryo, endosperm, and seed coat that ensures the production of a viable seed. Mutant analysis has suggested that communication between the endosperm and the seed coat is an important determinant in this process. In addition, cell groups within the embryo, derived from the apical and from the basal cell, respectively, after zygote division, concertedly establish a functional root meristem, and cells in the apical region of the embryo are hypothesized to repress cell divisions in the basal cell-derived suspensor. The available evidence for these interregional communication events mostly relies on the analysis of mutant phenotypes in Arabidopsis. To provide independent and direct evidence for communication events, we used conditional domain-specific expression of the diphtheria toxin A chain (DTA) in developing Arabidopsis seeds. By using a collection of cell-or tissue-type-specific promoters, we show that the mGAL4:VP16/UAS two-component gene expression allows reliable spatiotemporal and conditional expression of the GFP:GUS reporter and the DTA gene in the developing embryo and endosperm. Expression of DTA in the protoderm of the embryo proper led to excessive proliferation of suspensor cells, sometimes resulting in the formation of secondary embryos. Endosperm-specific expression of DTA caused complete cessation of seed growth, followed by pattern defects in the embryo and embryo arrest. Taken together, the results presented here substantiate the evidence for and underline the importance of interregional communication in embryo and seed development and demonstrate the usefulness of conditional toxin expression as a method complementary to phenotypic analysis of developmental mutants.Seed development in higher plants is characterized by the coordinated development of distinct tissues. Seed tissues mainly arise from cells and tissues of the female gametophyte that are formed before fertilization. The multinucleate female gametophyte is enclosed by several sporophytic maternal cell layers that constitute the ovule. In angiosperms, double fertilization by fusion of the egg cell and the central cell of the female gametophyte with the two sperm cells delivered by the pollen tube generates the diploid embryo and triploid endosperm, respectively. The embryo and endosperm both develop within the confines of the maternal tissue, now referred to as the seed coat, but each follows a different developmental program (for review on embryo and endosperm development, see Jü rgens and Mayer, 1994; Berger, 2003, respectively). Within the embryo, a complex but precise pattern of organs and cell types is laid down from a single cell, the zygote (Jü rgens and Mayer, 1994). Genetic controls are required to establish the embryo pattern and to ensure the proper initiation and relative positioning of distinct cell groups and organs, such as the meristems and vasculature. The endosperm first undergoes a series of synchronized ...

show abstract

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Diphtheria Toxin-Mediated Cell Ablation Reveals Interregional Communication during Arabidopsis Seed Development

et al. 2003

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Fate 4, cell death follows the ordered remobilization of cellular components during senescence, and organs consisting of dead cells are then shed from the parent plant (cell and leaf are not drawn to scale) aimed at identifying nuclear proteins whose ubiquitindependent turnover promotes pcd may also prove fruitful. Finally, molecular genetic approaches using, for example, embryo-defective suspensor mutants (Vernon and Meinke, 1994) and sex-determination mutants (DeLong et al, 1993) may also identify genes controlling plant pcd.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Arrested embryo growth or destruction of embryos often results in abnormally vigorous growth of suspensors (Yeung and Meinke, 1993, and references therein), including, in the embryo-defective mutant of Arabidopsis, twin, the growth of a second embryo from transformed cells within the suspensor (Vernon and Meinke, 1994). Twin and other embryo-defective suspensor mutants delay their autolysis program and replace it with a more embryo-like program (Yeung and Meinke, 1993).…”

Section: Degeneration Of the Suspensormentioning

confidence: 99%

Programmed cell death during plant growth and development

Beers

1997

Cell Death Differ

147

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This review describes programmed cell death as it signifies the terminal differentiation of cells in anthers, xylem, the suspensor and senescing leaves and petals. Also described are cell suicide programs initiated by stress (e.g., hypoxiainduced aerenchyma formation) and those that depend on communication between neighboring cells, as observed for incompatible pollen tubes, the suspensor and synergids in some species. Although certain elements of apoptosis are detectable during some plant programmed cell death processes, the participation of autolytic and perhaps autophagic mechanisms of cell killing during aerenchyma formation, tracheary element differentiation, suspensor degeneration and senescence support the conclusion that nonapoptotic programmed cell death pathways are essential to normal plant growth and development. Heterophagic elimination of dead cells, a prominent feature of animal apoptosis, is not evident in plants. Rather autolysis and autophagy appear to govern the elimination of cells during plant cell suicide.

show abstract

“…This can be demonstrated not only in somatic embryos, which display properly ordered apical-basal patterns in the absence of any fi xed spatial relationship to maternal structures, but also in zygotic embryos, which can develop normally in abnormal orientation relative to maternal structures. In twin mutants for example (Schwartz et al, 1994;Zhang and Somerville, 1997), multiple embryos from the same zygote can develop inverted apical-basal patterns (Vernon and Meinke, 1994), excluding the possibility that the polarity of the zygote stringently predisposes the polarity of the embryo ( Figure 4C). …”

Section: Is There Maternal Control?mentioning

confidence: 97%

Embryogenesis: Pattern Formation from a Single Cell

Capron

Chatfield

Provart

et al. 2009

The Arabidopsis Book

103

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

During embryogenesis a single cell gives rise to a functional multicellular organism. In higher plants, as in many other multicellular systems, essential architectural features, such as body axes and major tissue layers are established early in embryogenesis and serve as a positional framework for subsequent pattern elaboration. In Arabidopsis, the apicalbasal axis and the radial pattern of tissues wrapped around it are already recognizable in young embryos of only about a hundred cells in size. This early axial pattern seems to provide a coordinate system for the embryonic initiation of shoot and root. Findings from genetic studies in Arabidopsis are revealing molecular mechanisms underlying the initial establishment of the axial core pattern and its subsequent elaboration into functional shoots and roots. The genetic programs operating in the early embryo organize functional cell patterns rapidly and reproducibly from minimal cell numbers. Understanding their molecular details could therefore greatly expand our ability to generate plant body patterns de novo, with important implications for plant breeding and biotechnology.

show abstract

Embryogenic Transformation of the Suspensor in twin, a Polyembryonic Mutant of Arabidopsis

Cited by 140 publications

References 0 publications

Diphtheria Toxin-Mediated Cell Ablation Reveals Interregional Communication during Arabidopsis Seed Development

Diphtheria Toxin-Mediated Cell Ablation Reveals Interregional Communication during Arabidopsis Seed Development

Programmed cell death during plant growth and development

Embryogenesis: Pattern Formation from a Single Cell

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About