To understand how the identity of an organ can be switched, we studied the transformation of lateral root primordia (LRP) into shoot meristems in Arabidopsis root segments. In this system, the cytokinin-induced conversion does not involve the formation of callus-like structures. Detailed analysis showed that the conversion sequence starts with a mitotic pause and is concomitant with the differential expression of regulators of root and shoot development. The conversion requires the presence of apical stem cells and only LRP at stages VI or VII can be switched. It is engaged as soon as cell divisions resume because their position and orientation differ in the converting organ compared to the undisturbed emerging LRP. By alternating auxin and cytokinin treatments, we showed that the root and shoot organogenetic programs are remarkably plastic because the status of the same plant stem cell niche can be reversed repeatedly within a set developmental window. Thus, the networks at play in the meristem of a root can morph in the span of a couple cell division cycles into those of a shoot, and back, through transdifferentiation.
Direct conversion of root primordium into shoot meristem relies on timing of stem cell niche development
Currently Viewing Accepted Manuscript - Newer Version Available
Olga Rosspopoff, Liudmila Chelysheva, Julie Saffar, Lena Lecorgne, Delphine Gey, Erwann Caillieux, Vincent Colot, François Roudier, Pierre Hilson, Richard Berthomé, Marco Da Costa, Philippe Rech; Direct conversion of root primordium into shoot meristem relies on timing of stem cell niche development. Development 2017; dev.142570. doi: https://doi.org/10.1242/dev.142570
Download citation file:
Advertisement
Call for papers: Uncovering Developmental Diversity
Development invites you to submit your latest research to our upcoming special issue: Uncovering Developmental Diversity. This issue will be coordinated by our academic Editor Cassandra Extavour (Harvard University, USA) alongside two Guest Editors: Liam Dolan (Gregor Mendel Institute of Molecular Plant Biology, Austria) and Karen Sears (University of California Los Angeles, USA).
Choose Development in 2024
In this Editorial, Development Editor-in-Chief James Briscoe and Executive Editor Katherine Brown explain how you support your community by publishing in Development and how the journal champions serious science, community connections and progressive publishing.
Journal Meeting: From Stem Cells to Human Development
Register now for the 2024 Development Journal Meeting From Stem Cells to Human Development. Early-bird registration deadline: 3 May. Abstract submission deadline: 21 June.
Pluripotency of a founding field: rebranding developmental biology
This collaborative Perspective, the result of a workshop held in 2023, proposes a set of community actions to increase the visibility of the developmental biology field. The authors make recommendations for new funding streams, frameworks for collaborations and mechanisms by which members of the community can promote themselves and their research.
Read & Publish Open Access publishing: what authors say
We have had great feedback from authors who have benefitted from our Read & Publish agreement with their institution and have been able to publish Open Access with us without paying an APC. Read what they had to say.