title: Xylogenesis: the birth of a corpse.
abstract: Xylogenesis is a complex developmental process culminating in programmed cell death as a truly terminal differentiation event. In Arabidopsis, the availability of vascular-patterning mutants, and the identification of genes and their products that are involved in cell specification, secondary-wall deposition and lignification, are providing clues to the functions of some of the sequences in the large expressed sequence tag databases derived from the xylem-rich tissues of trees. An in vitro system, the Zinnia mesophyll cell system, provides an alternative system for those cell-biological experiments that are difficult to tackle in intact plants. In particular, a combination of molecular-genetic and cell-biological approaches has made possible the elucidation of some of the features of plant programmed cell death.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell Biology, John Innes Centre, Norwich Research Park, Colney, NR4 7UH, Norwich, UK. keith.roberts@bbsrc.ac.uk
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Roberts
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: McCann
mesh_terms: D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D007210:Indoleacetic Acids / Q000502:physiology*; D008031:Lignin / Q000378:metabolism; D019684:Magnoliopsida / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D015398:Signal Transduction
chemical_list: D007210:Indoleacetic Acids; D008031:Lignin