Abstract
Phenotypic diversity of flowering plants stems from common basic features of the plant body pattern with well-defined body axes, organs and tissue organisation. Cell division and cell specification are the two processes that underlie the formation of a body pattern. As plant cells are encased into their cellulosic walls, directional cell division through precise positioning of division plane is crucial for shaping plant morphology. Since many plant cells are pluripotent, their fate establishment is influenced by their cellular environment through cell-to-cell signaling. Recent studies show that apart from biochemical regulation, these two processes are also influenced by cell and tissue morphology and operate under mechanical control. Finding a proper model system that allows dissecting the relationship between these aspects is the key to our understanding of pattern establishment. In this review, we present the Arabidopsis embryo as a simple, yet comprehensive model of pattern formation compatible with high-throughput quantitative assays.
Highlights
Flowering plants demonstrate a wealth of phenotypic diversity, but the structure of their body pattern with well-defined body axes, organs and tissue organisation is highly similar across different species (Jürgens et al, 1994)
Since plant cells are encased in cellulosic walls and are unable to move, proper morphology relies substantially on oriented cell division through adjustment of division plane positioning, so that daughter cells are placed in their specific locations (Smith, 2001)
During the past decade the Arabidopsis embryogenesis emerged as a versatile model allowing to address many aspects of plant development
Summary
Flowering plants demonstrate a wealth of phenotypic diversity, but the structure of their body pattern with well-defined body axes, organs and tissue organisation is highly similar across different species (Jürgens et al, 1994). Is manuscript aims to provide a current state of the art of the high-throughput and quantitative approaches that are presently used to shed light onto processes of plant body pattern formation using the early Arabidopsis embryo as a model. It outlines the current trends in the field and proposes directions for future research. The study provided the first insight into how cells might disobey the shortest path rule and ‘break’ the symmetry of division It demonstrated that mutant embryos, constitutively expressing an inhibitor of auxin response, indole3-acetic acid inducible 12/bodenlos (iaa12/bdl), switch from morphologically asymmetric to symmetric divisions, suggesting that breaking the symmetry is an auxin-dependent process (Yoshida et al, 2014). Further improvement of the live-imaging approaches will increase value of the Arabidopsis embryo as a model system
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