A New Genetic Pathway for Organ Emergence during de novo Root Organogenesis
De novo root organogenesis refers to the regeneration of adventitious roots from detached or wounded plants organs/tissues. Using an adventitious rooting system from detached leaf explants, the framework of cell fate transition
has been recently uncovered. Briefly, the
WOX11 transcription factor gene is induced by the plant hormone auxin upon detachment of leaf explants, leading to the fate transition from regeneration-competent cells to root founder cells. Subsequently, root founder cells undergo rounds of cell division to form the root primordium.
In this study, Prof. XU Lin
’s group at National Key Laboratory of Plant Molecular Genetics,
CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, CAS, revealed a new genetic pathway involved in root tip emergence from leaf explants during
de novo root organogenesis.
Using the rooting system from detached leaf explants, Xu and his colleagues identified the NAC1 transcription factor gene which is expressed in response to explant-specific wounding. Interestingly, NAC1 acts independent of the auxin and WOX11-mediated cell fate transition. NAC1 regulates a group of CEP genes which are involved in cell wall metabolism. Blockage of the NAC1-CEP pathway results in defect of the emergence of the newly formed root tip. Collectively, these results suggest that the NAC1-CEP pathway acts in response to wounding and regulates cellular environment for organ emergence.
This study entitled“Auxin-independent NAC pathway acts in response to explant-specific wounding and promotes root tip emergence during de novo root organogenesis in Arabidopsis” has been published online on Plant Physiology (doi: 10.1104/pp.15.01733) on February 5, 2016.
The work was funded by National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program), the National Natural Science Foundation of China and Youth Innovation Promotion Association CAS.
CONTACT:
XU Lin, Principal Investigator,
Institute of Plant Physiology & Ecology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences,
Shanghai 200032, China.
Email: xulin01@sibs.ac.cn
Phone: +86-21-54924101
Schematic illustration: The NAC1 pathway is involved in de novo root organogenesis (Image by Prof. XU Lin’s group).
