RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Control of stem-cell niche establishment in Arabidopsis flowers by REVOLUTA and the LEAFY-RAX1 module
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 488114
DO 10.1101/488114
A1 Denay Grégoire
A1 Tichtinsky Gabrielle
A1 Le Masson Marie
A1 Chahtane Hicham
A1 Huguet Sylvie
A1 Lopez-Vidriero Irene
A1 Wenzl Christian
A1 Franco-Zorrilla José Manuel
A1 Simon Rüdiger
A1 Jan U. Lohmann
A1 Parcy François
YR 2018
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/12/06/488114.abstract
AB Plants retain the ability to produce organs throughout their life by maintaining active stem cell niches called meristems. The shoot apical meristem (SAM) is responsible for the growth of aerial plant structures. In Arabidopsis thaliana, the SAM initially produces leaves during the vegetative phase and later flowers during reproductive development. In the early stages of floral initiation, a group of cells first emerges from the SAM to form a stereotypically organized meristematic structure on its flank. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the acquisition of this specific meristematic organization remain elusive. We show here that the transcription factors LEAFY (LFY) and REVOLUTA (REV) control two partially redundant pathways controlling meristematic organization in early flower primordia. We found that LFY acts through the transcription factor REGULATOR OF AXILLARY MERISTEM1 (RAX1) and we provide mechanistic insights in how RAX1 allows meristem identity establishment in young flowers. Our work provides a molecular link between the processes of meristem formation and floral identity acquisition in the nascent flower.