Molecular Similarities Between Plant and Animal Stem Cells

Abstract

This chapter presents the known similarities between animal and plant stem cells’ maintenance and regulations. The RETINOBLASTOMA-RELATED (RBR) protein, the plant homolog of the RB tumor suppressor protein, which has a crucial role in both root and shoot niche regulation, is the rare known protein involved in stem cell function that is conserved between the animal and plant kingdoms. Another similarity between plant and animal stem cells refers to the fact that damaged stem cells in the root can be replaced by symmetric division of an adjacent stem cell that subsequently adopts the tissue fate according to positional signals, which is also observed in several animal stem cell niches. The role of miRNA in maintaining the position of the functional stem cell niche within a dynamic structure is an important mode of regulation in both plants and animals. Breast cancer susceptibility gene 1 and matching protein (BRCA1), as well as another BRCA2 protein, are required for the efficient repair of double strand breaks by homologous recombination, in the cells of plant Arabidopsis thaliana, like in animal cells. Pluripotent stem cells in both animals and plants contain open chromatin compared with differentiated cells.