title: Pluripotent versus totipotent plant stem cells: dependence versus autonomy?
abstract: Little is known of the mechanisms that induce the dedifferentiation of a single somatic cell into a totipotent embryogenic cell that can either be regenerated or develop into an embryo and subsequently an entire plant. In this Opinion article, we examine the cellular, physiological and molecular similarities and differences between different plant stem cell types. We propose to extend the plant stem cell concept to include single embryogenic cells as a totipotent stem cell based on their capacity to regenerate or develop into an embryo under certain conditions. Our survey suggests that differences in chromatin structure might ensure that meristem-localized stem cells have supervised freedom and are pluripotent, and that embryogenic stem cells are unsupervised, autonomous and, hence, freely totipotent.
authors.affiliation: Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement, CIRAD, UMR 1096, TA 96/02, Montpellier Cedex 5, France. jean-luc.verdeil@cirad.fr <jean-luc.verdeil@cirad.fr>
authors.forename: Jean-Luc
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Verdeil
authors.forename: Laurence
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Alemanno
authors.forename: Nicolas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Niemenak
authors.forename: Timothy John
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Tranbarger
mesh_terms: D002843:Chromatin / Q000378:metabolism; D018519:Meristem / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D008954:Models, Biological; D059828:Plant Cells; D010944:Plants / Q000196:embryology / Q000378:metabolism; D039904:Pluripotent Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000648:ultrastructure; D039901:Totipotent Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000648:ultrastructure
chemical_list: D002843:Chromatin