PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Ramin Rahni
AU  - Kenneth D. Birnbaum
TI  - Week-long imaging of cell divisions in the Arabidopsis root meristem
AID  - 10.1101/268102
DP  - 2018 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 268102
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/05/31/268102.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/05/31/268102.full
AB  - Characterizing the behaviors of dynamic systems requires capturing them with high temporal and spatial resolution. Owing to its transparency and genetic tractability, the Arabidopsis thaliana root lends itself well to live imaging when combined with cell and tissue-specific fluorescent reporters. We developed a novel 4D imaging method that utilizes simple confocal microscopy and readily available components to track cell divisions in the root stem cell niche and surrounding region for up to one week. This new setup allows us to finely analyze meristematic cell division rates that lead to patterning. Using this method, we performed a direct measurement of cell division intervals within and around the root stem cell niche. The results reveal a short, steep gradient of cell division in proximal stem cells, with progressively more rapid cell division rates from QC, to cells in direct contact with the QC (initials), to their immediate daughters, after which division rates appear to become more homogeneous. These results provide a baseline to study how perturbations in signaling could affect cell division patterns in the root meristem.