title: Genetic control of identity and growth in the early Arabidopsis embryo.
abstract: Plants can grow complex and elaborate structures, in some species for thousands of years. Despite the diversity in form and shape, plants are built from a limited number of fundamental tissue types, and their arrangement is deeply conserved in the plant kingdom. A key question in biology is how these fundamental tissues, i.e. epidermal, ground and vascular tissue, are specified and organized in time and space. In the present paper, I discuss the use of the early Arabidopsis embryo as a model system to dissect the control of tissue formation and patterning, as well as the specification of the stem cells that sustain post-embryonic growth. I present recent insights into the molecules and mechanisms that control both the specification and the subsequent growth of the different cell types within the embryonic root. Finally, I discuss major unanswered questions and future challenges in using the embryo as a model to decipher the regulatory logic of plant development.
authors.affiliation: *Laboratory of Biochemistry, Wageningen University, Dreijenlaan 3, 6703HA Wageningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Dolf
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Weijers
mesh_terms: D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000196:embryology* / Q000235:genetics; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D012639:Seeds / Q000196:embryology / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins