2021 journal article

Cell-by-cell dissection of phloem development links a maturation gradient to cell specialization

SCIENCE, 374(6575), 1577-+.

co-author countries: Belgium 🇧🇪 Germany 🇩🇪 Finland 🇫🇮 United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland 🇬🇧 Japan 🇯🇵 Netherlands 🇳🇱 Poland 🇵🇱 Sweden 🇸🇪 United States of America 🇺🇸
MeSH headings : Arabidopsis / cytology; Arabidopsis / genetics; Arabidopsis / metabolism; Arabidopsis Proteins / genetics; Arabidopsis Proteins / metabolism; Cell Differentiation; GTP-Binding Proteins / genetics; GTP-Binding Proteins / metabolism; Meristem / cytology; Phloem / cytology; Phloem / genetics; Phloem / growth & development; Phloem / metabolism; Plant Roots / cytology; Plant Roots / genetics; Plant Roots / growth & development; Plant Roots / metabolism; RNA-Seq; Signal Transduction; Single-Cell Analysis; Transcription Factors / genetics; Transcription Factors / metabolism; Transcriptome
Source: Web Of Science
Added: February 7, 2022

In the plant meristem, tissue-wide maturation gradients are coordinated with specialized cell networks to establish various developmental phases required for indeterminate growth. Here, we used single-cell transcriptomics to reconstruct the protophloem developmental trajectory from the birth of cell progenitors to terminal differentiation in the Arabidopsis thaliana root. PHLOEM EARLY DNA-BINDING-WITH-ONE-FINGER (PEAR) transcription factors mediate lineage bifurcation by activating guanosine triphosphatase signaling and prime a transcriptional differentiation program. This program is initially repressed by a meristem-wide gradient of PLETHORA transcription factors. Only the dissipation of PLETHORA gradient permits activation of the differentiation program that involves mutual inhibition of early versus late meristem regulators. Thus, for phloem development, broad maturation gradients interface with cell-type-specific transcriptional regulators to stage cellular differentiation.