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- Title
The interaction of transcription factors controls the spatial layout of plant aerial stem cell niches.
- Authors
Gruel, Jérémy; Deichmann, Julia; Landrein, Benoit; Hitchcock, Thomas; Jönsson, Henrik
- Abstract
The plant shoot apical meristem holds a stem cell niche from which all aerial organs originate. Using a computational approach we show that a mixture of monomers and heterodimers of the transcription factors WUSCHEL and HAIRY MERISTEM is sufficient to pattern the stem cell niche, and predict that immobile heterodimers form a regulatory "pocket" surrounding the stem cells. The model achieves to reproduce an array of perturbations, including mutants and tissue size modifications. We also show its ability to reproduce the recently observed dynamical shift of the stem cell niche during the development of an axillary meristem. The work integrates recent experimental results to answer the longstanding question of how the asymmetry of expression between the stem cell marker CLAVATA3 and its activator WUSCHEL is achieved, and recent findings of plasticity in the system. A pocket of transcription factors encloses stem cell niches in plants: Aerial stem cell niches in plants are found in meristems, which are typically small organs located at the tip of shoots. The size and location of those niches are regulated by a combination of transcription factors and hormones that have been shown to diffuse in the meristematic tissue. Using a computational approach, a group of European scientists led by Jérémy Gruel of University of Cambridge explored multiple scenarios able to capture the behaviour of various mutants and perturbations of the stem cell niches. Their work predicts that diffusive transcription factors can dimerise into immobile complexes, and form static pockets in the tissue within which the stem cells can be maintained.
- Subjects
TRANSCRIPTION factors; PLANT cells &; tissues; MERISTEMS; MONOMERS; HETERODIMERS
- Publication
NPJ Systems Biology & Applications, 2018, Vol 4, Issue 1, pN.PAG
- ISSN
2056-7189
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1038/s41540-018-0072-1