Regulation of Division and Differentiation of Plant Stem Cells

Abstract

A major challenge in developmental biology is unraveling the precise regulation of plant stem cell maintenance and the transition to a fully differentiated cell. In this review, we highlight major themes coordinating the acquisition of cell identity and subsequent differentiation in plants. Plant cells are immobile and establish position-dependent cell lineages that rely heavily on external cues. Central players are the hormones auxin and cytokinin, which balance cell division and differentiation during organogenesis. Transcription factors and miRNAs, many of which are mobile in plants, establish gene regulatory networks that communicate cell position and fate. Small peptide signaling also provides positional cues as new cell types emerge from stem cell division and progress through differentiation. These pathways recruit similar players for patterning different organs, emphasizing the modular nature of gene regulatory networks. Finally, we speculate on the outstanding questions in the field and discuss how they may be addressed by emerging technologies.

A single cellArabidopsisroot atlas reveals developmental trajectories in wild type and cell identity mutants

“…The Arabidopsis root is a powerful model to investigate the full developmental trajectory from stem cell to differentiated tissue using scRNA-seq. In plants, cell identity is primarily determined by spatial location 44…”

Recurrent requirement for the m6A-ECT2/ECT3/ECT4 axis in the control of cell proliferation during plant organogenesis

“…In post-embryonic development in plants, organogenesis is the result of activities of the stem cell niches in meristems at the shoot and root apices ( Gaillochet and Lohmann, 2015 ; Pierre-Jerome et al, 2018 ). Organogenesis involves the distinct steps of initiation of organ primordia from meristematic cells, separation of primordia from meristems via boundary formation, and cellular proliferation and expansion coupled with differentiation ( Bar and Ori, 2014 ; Du et al, 2018 ; Thomson and Wellmer, 2019 ; Wachsman et al, 2015 ).…”

CLAVATA Signaling Ensures Reproductive Development in Plants across Thermal Environments

“…7 This indeterminate growth requires balanced cell proliferation and differentiation in stem cell niches, called meristems, at growing apices. 8,9 During the reproductive phase of Arabidopsis thaliana, flower primordia are continuously produced from inflorescence meristems (IM) dependent on the hormone auxin. [3][4][5][6] Primordia then proliferate, forming flowers from secondary floral meristems.…”