title: Do Mitochondria Play a Central Role in Stress-Induced Somatic Embryogenesis?
abstract: This review highlights a four-step rational for the hypothesis that mitochondria play an upstream central role for stress-induced somatic embryogenesis (SE): (1) Initiation of SE is linked to programmed cell death (PCD) (2) Mitochondria are crucially connected to cell death (3) SE is challenged by stress per se (4) Mitochondria are centrally linked to plant stress response and its management. Additionally the review provides a rough perspective for the use of mitochondrial-derived functional marker (FM) candidates to improve SE efficiency. It is proposed to apply SE systems as phenotyping tool for identifying superior genotypes with high general plasticity under severe plant stress conditions.
authors.affiliation: EU Marie Curie Chair, ICAAM, IIFA, Universidade de Évora, Núcleo da Mitra, Ap. 94, Évora, 7002-554, Portugal. eu_chair@uevora.pt.
authors.forename: Birgit
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Arnholdt-Schmitt
authors.affiliation: EU Marie Curie Chair, ICAAM, IIFA, Universidade de Évora, Núcleo da Mitra, Ap. 94, Évora, 7002-554, Portugal.
authors.forename: Carla
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ragonezi
authors.affiliation: EU Marie Curie Chair, ICAAM, IIFA, Universidade de Évora, Núcleo da Mitra, Ap. 94, Évora, 7002-554, Portugal.
authors.forename: Hélia
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Cardoso
mesh_terms: D017209:Apoptosis / Q000235:genetics; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D008928:Mitochondria / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D063245:Plant Development / Q000235:genetics*; D058439:Plant Somatic Embryogenesis Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D010944:Plants / Q000235:genetics*; D012639:Seeds / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development; D013312:Stress, Physiological / Q000235:genetics
keywords: Cell reprogramming; Genotype selection; Mitochondria; PCD; Phenotype plasticity; Phenotyping tool; Severe stress; Somatic embryo genesis