(Press-News.org) Plants form new leaves, flowers and roots at the tips of shoots and roots, in specific growth regions known as meristems. These meristems contain stem cells that divide as needed and form new cells that develop into specialised tissue. Using the example of plant roots, researchers from Freiburg have now been able to decipher which regulatory mechanisms ensure that growth in the meristem occurs in a controlled manner. The results have been published in the journal Nature Plants.
Stem cells are dependent on signals from other cells
The fact that stem cells can continuously divide and form progenitor cells for specialised tissues is not a matter of course: signals from other cells are necessary to control the properties of stem cells. This dependence on signalling processes is also a protective mechanism. If stem cells were able to multiply uncontrollably, this would lead to uncontrolled growth, as in the case of cancer.
WOX5 is an important signalling molecule that regulates stem cells in the meristem. However, the mechanism through which it does this was previously unknown. A research team led by Prof. Dr. Thomas Laux, a member of the CIBSS – Centre for Integrative Biological Signalling Studies Cluster of Excellence at the University of Freiburg, has now succeeded in decoding this mechanism. The team identified HAN as an essential factor that transmits the function of WOX5.
The gene-regulating molecule HAN is an important regulator for plant growth.
“We were able to show that HAN transmits the WOX5 signal and ensures that the CDF4 gene remains inactive in stem cells,” explains Laux. “CDF4 would otherwise cause stem cell properties to be inhibited. By suppressing CDF4, HAN allows the stem cells in the root meristem to remain undifferentiated and continue dividing.”
The team used molecular biology methods as well as mathematical modelling. These provide a possible explanation as to why the seemingly complicated mechanism could be an advantage for the plant: the involvement of HAN as a link between WOX5 and CDF4 appears to make the regulation of stem cells less sensitive to environmental influences. “In further investigations, we now want to find out whether the multi-level nature of the process actually has the effect that we see in the modelling,” says Laux.
Process also important for plant breeding
A precise understanding of the processes by which plants grow is an important basis for breeding more resilient or higher-yielding crops. This is because it allows the targeted identification and selection of plants that can grow and produce yields even under less-than-ideal conditions, such as extreme weather.
END
Plant stem cells: Better understanding the biological mechanism of growth control
2024-10-11
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Genomic study identifies human, animal hair in ‘man-eater’ lions’ teeth
2024-10-11
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — In 1898, two male lions terrorized an encampment of bridge builders on the Tsavo River in Kenya. The lions, which were massive and maneless, crept into the camp at night, raided the tents and dragged off their victims. The infamous Tsavo “man-eaters” killed at least 28 people before Lt. Col. John Henry Patterson, the civil engineer on the project, shot them dead. Patterson sold the lions’ remains to the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago in 1925.
In a new study, Field Museum researchers collaborated with scientists at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign on an in-depth analysis of hairs carefully extracted ...
These 19th century lions from Kenya ate humans, DNA collected from hairs in their teeth shows
2024-10-11
By isolating and sequencing DNA in compacted hairs collected from the teeth of two Tsavo lion museum specimens from the 1890s, researchers have found that the historic lions from Kenya preyed on a variety of species, including humans, giraffes, and wildebeests. These so-called “Tsavo Man-Eaters” are estimated to have killed at least dozens of people, including those working along the Kenya-Uganda Railway in the late 1890’s. The findings appear in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on October 11.
“As ...
A potential non-invasive stool test and novel therapy for endometriosis
2024-10-11
Promising findings by researchers at Baylor College of Medicine and collaborating institutions could lead to the development of a non-invasive stool test and a new therapy for endometriosis, a painful condition that affects nearly 200 million women worldwide. The study appeared in the journal Med.
“Endometriosis develops when lining inside the womb grows outside its normal location, for instance attached to surrounding intestine or the membrane lining the abdominal cavity. This typically causes bleeding, pain, inflammation and infertility,” said corresponding author Dr. Rama Kommagani, associate professor in the Department of Pathology ...
Racial and ethnic disparities in age-specific all-cause mortality during the COVID-19 pandemic
2024-10-11
About The Study: In this cross-sectional study of the U.S. population during the COVID-19 public health emergency, excess mortality occurred in all racial and ethnic groups, with disparities affecting several minoritized populations. The greatest relative increases occurred in populations ages 25 to 64. Documented differences deviated from pre-pandemic disparities.
Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Jeremy Samuel Faust, MD, MS, email jsfaust@bwh.harvard.edu.
To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/
(doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.38918)
Editor’s ...
Delft scientists discover how innate immunity envelops bacteria
2024-10-11
Delft scientists discover how innate immunity envelops bacteria
The protein GBP1 is a vital component of our body’s natural defence against pathogens. This substance fights against bacteria and parasites by enveloping them in a protein coat, but how the substance manages to do this has remained unknown until now. Researchers from Delft University of Technology have now unravelled how this protein operates. This new knowledge, published in Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, could aid in the development of medications ...
Workforce diversity is key to advancing One Health
2024-10-11
[Vienna, October 11, 2024] – A new article highlights a critical issue in the One Health approach—an emerging global framework for tackling complex health challenges at the intersection of human, animal, and environmental health. In the article in The Lancet Planetary Health, scientists Amélie Desvars-Larrive and Fariba Karimi from the Complexity Science Hub (CSH) point out that One Health's current framework fails to explicitly address workforce diversity.
According to Desvars-Larrive and Karimi, ...
Genome Research publishes a special issue on innovations in computational biology
2024-10-11
October 11, 2024 – Genome Research (https://genome.org) publishes a special issue highlighting novel advances in computational biology.
In collaboration with the International Conference on Research in Computational Molecular Biology (RECOMB), Genome Research publishes a collection of 20 computational methods and their applications in genomics including spatial, single-cell, and long-read sequencing. These include algorithmic innovations in genomic variation analysis, privacy-preserving algorithms, DNA structural properties, cancer genomics, ...
A quick and easy way to produce anode materials for sodium-ion batteries using microwaves
2024-10-11
The research team led by Dr. Daeho Kim and Dr. Jong Hwan Park at the Nano Hybrid Technology Research Center of the Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute (KERI) has developed a groundbreaking process technology that enables for ultrafast, 30-second preparation of hard carbon anodes for sodium-ion batteries using microwave induction heating.
One of the next-generation secondary batteries, the sodium-ion battery uses sodium (Na) in lieu of the current mainstay, lithium (Li). Sodium, the main component of salt, is more than a thousand times more abundant than lithium and is easier to extract and refine. Furthermore, its lower reactivity compared ...
‘Inside-out’ galaxy growth observed in the early universe
2024-10-11
Astronomers have used the NASA/ESA James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to observe the ‘inside-out’ growth of a galaxy in the early universe, only 700 million years after the Big Bang.
This galaxy is one hundred times smaller than the Milky Way, but is surprisingly mature for so early in the universe. Like a large city, this galaxy has a dense collection of stars at its core but becomes less dense in the galactic ‘suburbs’. And like a large city, this galaxy is starting to sprawl, with star formation accelerating in the outskirts.
This is the earliest-ever detection of inside-out galactic growth. ...
Protein blocking bone development could hold clues for future osteoporosis treatment
2024-10-11
Scientists have identified a protein that blocks the activity of bone-forming cells (osteoblasts) by stopping them from maturing during the journey to sites of bone formation, a new study has found.
In a paper published in Communications Biology today (Friday 11 October 2024), a team of researchers led by Dr Amy Naylor and Professor Roy Bicknell along with their team including Dr Georgiana Neag from the University of Birmingham have found that protein CLEC14A, which is found on blood vessel cells called endothelial ...