title: Plant stem cell niches.
abstract: Multicellular organisms possess pluripotent stem cells to form new organs, replenish the daily loss of cells, or regenerate organs after injury. Stem cells are maintained in specific environments, the stem cell niches, that provide signals to block differentiation. In plants, stem cell niches are situated in the shoot, root, and vascular meristems-self-perpetuating units of organ formation. Plants' lifelong activity-which, as in the case of trees, can extend over more than a thousand years-requires that a robust regulatory network keep the balance between pluripotent stem cells and differentiating descendants. In this review, we focus on current models in plant stem cell research elaborated during the past two decades, mainly in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. We address the roles of mobile signals on transcriptional modules involved in balancing cell fates. In addition, we discuss shared features of and differences between the distinct stem cell niches of Arabidopsis.
authors.affiliation: BIOSS Centre for Biological Signalling Studies, Faculty of Biology, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Ernst
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Aichinger
authors.forename: Noortje
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kornet
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Friedrich
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Laux
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000166:cytology* / Q000254:growth & development*; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D002450:Cell Communication; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D017343:Genes, Plant / Q000502:physiology; D018519:Meristem / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D008954:Models, Biological; D018517:Plant Roots / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism*; D018547:Plant Stems / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D058526:Plant Vascular Bundle / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology*; D039904:Pluripotent Stem Cells / Q000378:metabolism; D012038:Regeneration; D015398:Signal Transduction; D055153:Stem Cell Niche / Q000502:physiology*; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
chemical_list: D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins