Abstract
Very early somatic embryogenesis has been recognized as a powerful method to propagate plants in vitro. For some woody species and in particular for some coniferous trees, somatic embryogenesis induction has become a routine procedure. For the majority, the application of this technology presents yet many limitations especially due to the genotype, the induction conditions, the number of embryos produced, maturation, and conversion, among other factors that compromise the systematic use of somatic embryogenesis for commercial purposes especially of woody species and forest trees in particular. The advancements obtained on somatic embryogenesis in Arabidopsis and the development of OMIC technologies allowed the characterization of genes and the corresponding proteins that are conserved in woody species. This knowledge will help in understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying the complex regulatory networks that control somatic embryogenesis in woody plants. In this revision, we report on developments of OMICs (genomics, transcriptomics, metabolomics, and proteomics) applied to somatic embryogenesis induction and its contribution for understanding the change of fate giving rise to the expression of somatic embryogenesis competence.
Highlights
Prediction of plant cell totipotency, the base concept of somatic embryogenesis, is due to Schleiden (1838), the author of Schleiden theory, and Schwann (1839) who postulated the capacity of individual cells from a plant to divide independently.Later on, Haberlandt (1902) considered that plant vegetative cells could be induced to form embryos capable of giving rise to entire plants
Taking into account that in somatic embryogenesis, the mechanisms responsible for expression of embryogenic competence, in particular the molecular mechanisms of cell fate transition, are of crucial importance for success of somatic embryogenesis, in this paper, we provide a set of information on recent omics data regarding this embryogenesis step in an attempt to contribute to an increased knowledge on the somatic embryogenesis induction process which may be useful for future application of somatic embryogenesis as a real opportunity for mass in vitro propagation, germplasm conservation, genetic improvement, and breeding of woody species
According to Ascenzi-Fabado et al (2017), changes of chromatin features, in particular histone modifications, occur after abiotic stress treatments. Many of these changes are associated with genes that are transcriptionally regulated by the stress applied to the explant. These findings suggest the existance of an integrative regulation of somatic embryogenesis in woody species economically important in particular in Citrus species improvement
Summary
Reviewed by: Sebastien Christian Carpentier, Bioversity International (Belgium), Belgium Elena Corredoira, Instituto de Investigaciones Agrobiológicas de Galicia (IIAG), Spain. The advancements obtained on somatic embryogenesis in Arabidopsis and the development of OMIC technologies allowed the characterization of genes and the corresponding proteins that are conserved in woody species. This knowledge will help in understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying the complex regulatory networks that control somatic embryogenesis in woody plants. In this revision, we report on developments of OMICs (genomics, transcriptomics, metabolomics, and proteomics) applied to somatic embryogenesis induction and its contribution for understanding the change of fate giving rise to the expression of somatic embryogenesis competence
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