美国纽约大学Kenneth D. Birnbaum团队揭示了根部组织回路调节玉米和狗尾草的器官复杂性。这一研究成果发表在2021年12月3日出版的国际学术期刊《科学》上。

他们使用单细胞 RNA 测序快速生成玉米根的细胞分辨率图，揭示了与扩张的皮层相邻的组织形成性转录因子 SHORT-ROOT (SHR) 的替代配置。他们表明玉米 SHR 蛋白是超移动性的，将至少八个细胞层移动到皮层中。玉米和狗尾草中的高阶 SHR 突变体的皮质层数量减少，表明 SHR 通路控制皮质组织的扩张以阐述解剖复杂性。

研究人员表示，大多数植物根部具有多个皮质层，这些皮质层构成了器官的大部分，并在生理学中发挥着关键作用，例如耐洪和共生。然而，对于拟南芥高度缩小的解剖结构之外的皮质层的形成知之甚少。

附：英文原文

Title: Ground tissue circuitry regulates organ complexity in maize and Setaria

Author: Carlos Ortiz-Ramírez, Bruno Guillotin, Xiaosa Xu, Ramin Rahni, Sanqiang Zhang, Zhe Yan, Poliana Coqueiro Dias Araujo, Edgar Demesa-Arevalo, Laura Lee, Joyce Van Eck, Thomas R. Gingeras, David Jackson, Kimberly L. Gallagher, Kenneth D. Birnbaum

Issue&Volume: 2021-12-03

Abstract: Most plant roots have multiple cortex layers that make up the bulk of the organ and play key roles in physiology, such as flood tolerance and symbiosis. However, little is known about the formation of cortical layers outside of the highly reduced anatomy of Arabidopsis. Here, we used single-cell RNA sequencing to rapidly generate a cell-resolution map of the maize root, revealing an alternative configuration of the tissue formative transcription factor SHORT-ROOT (SHR) adjacent to an expanded cortex. We show that maize SHR protein is hypermobile, moving at least eight cell layers into the cortex. Higher-order SHR mutants in both maize and Setaria have reduced numbers of cortical layers, showing that the SHR pathway controls expansion of cortical tissue to elaborate anatomical complexity.

DOI: abj2327

Source: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abj2327