European Plant Embryology Consortium
Final Report Abstract
Understanding the genetic mechanisms that control plant development is key to developing novel crops with improved yield traits. Plant development relies on the continuous formation of new organs, each consisting of multiple cell types, by meristems – stem cell groups at the growth tips. While meristems are active throughout plant life, they are initially specified in the early embryo. In this collaborative project, 5 European groups have combined their efforts to dissect the genetic control of tissue and stem cell specification in the early Arabidopsis embryo. Each group focused on a single, crucial aspect of plant development, and generated genome-wide data on cell type-specific gene expression, as well as genomic binding sites for key developmental regulators. The project has delivered new insights into the cellular decisions underlying cell fate specification. New genes have been identified that are activated in the embryonic cell lineage at the earliest stages of embryogenesis, several of which were shown to be important for embryo development. Likewise, sets of genes were identified that are activated either in the first epidermal cells, or in the first precursor of the ground tissue and vascular tissues, and their further analysis will reveal the mechanisms underlying the formation of these tissues. Furthermore, the function of shoot- and root-specifying transcription factors was dissected in the embryo, and finally, many new potential roles for microRNAs were discovered in the control of embryo development. The individual subprojects within the EURO-PEC project, as well as the integration of data across subprojects, has provided a rich substrate for future investigations on the molecular and genetic mechanisms controlling plant embryo development, and datasets generated during this project are compiled in a user-friendly open network portal.
Publications
- (2014), Science 345, 1255215
De Rybel et al.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1255215) - (2015), Dev. Cell 35, 432-443
Vera-Sirera et al.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.devcel.2015.10.022) - (2016), Annu. Rev. Cell Dev. Biol. 32, 47-75
Palovaara et al.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-cellbio-111315-124929) - (2016), Plant J., 88: 694-701
Dastidar et al.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1111/tpj.13270) - (2016). Mol. Plant 9, 1028-1039
Dolzblasz et al.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molp.2016.04.007) - (2017), Nature Plants 3, 894-904
Palovaara et al.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-017-0035-3) - (2017). Dev. Cell 40, 264–27
Zhang et al.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.devcel.2017.02.021)
