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First published online August 12, 2008

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ZWILLE finds its niche

Despite its central role in organ formation throughout a plant's life, little is known of how the shoot meristem forms in the Arabidopsis embryo. Now, on p. 2839, Tucker and colleagues reveal that the ARGONAUTE (AGO) family member ZWILLE (ZLL) signals from the embryo's vascular primordium to potentiate the function of WUSCHEL (WUS), a transcription factor that maintains stem cells in an undifferentiated state. In a feedback loop that controls stem cells numbers, shoot meristem cells receive WUS signals and express the signal peptide CLAVATA3 (CLV3), which in turn restricts WUS expression. However, in zll mutant embryos, the authors report, WUS expression expands abnormally and CVL3 expression decreases, probably because WUS function is impaired and cannot maintain CVL3 expression. The authors also show that embryos with a partial loss of ZLL function develop more severe defects when AGO1 is also mutated. Together, these findings indicate that, in a process that potentially involves small RNAs, ZLL promotes a signal from the vasculature that maintains the stem cell niche.

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Related articles in Development:

Vascular signalling mediated by ZWILLE potentiates WUSCHEL function during shoot meristem stem cell development in the Arabidopsis embryo

Matthew R. Tucker, Annika Hinze, Elise J. Tucker, Shinobu Takada, Gerd Jürgens, and Thomas Laux
Development 2008 135: 2839-2843. [Abstract] [Full Text]  

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Related articles in Development Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?