Asymmetric cell division in plants: mechanisms of symmetry breaking and cell fate determination.
Asymmetric cell division is a fundamental mechanism that generates cell diversity while maintaining self-renewing stem cell populations in multicellular organisms. Both intrinsic and extrinsic mechanisms underpin symmetry breaking and differential daughter cell fate determination in animals and plants. The emerging picture suggests that plants deal with the problem of symmetry breaking using unique cell polarity proteins, mobile transcription factors, and cell wall components to influence asymmetric divisions and cell fate. There is a clear role for altered auxin distribution and signaling in distinguishing two daughter cells and an emerging role for epigenetic modifications through chromatin remodelers and DNA methylation in plant cell differentiation. The importance of asymmetric cell division in determining final plant form provides the impetus for its study in the areas of both basic and applied science.
Department of Biology, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA, 98225, USA.
Lynn Jo
LJ
Pillitteri
Waksman Institute of Microbiology, Rutgers the State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, NJ, 08854, USA.
Xiaoyu
X
Guo
Waksman Institute of Microbiology, Rutgers the State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, NJ, 08854, USA. dong@waksman.rutgers.edu.|Department of Plant Biology and Pathology, Rutgers the State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ, 08901, USA. dong@waksman.rutgers.edu.
Juan
J
Dong
D000818:Animals; D060049:Asymmetric Cell Division / Q000235:genetics; D019070:Cell Lineage / Q000235:genetics; D007210:Indoleacetic Acids / Q000378:metabolism; D008954:Models, Biological; D010944:Plants / Q000378:metabolism*; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000235:genetics
D007210:Indoleacetic Acids
Asymmetric cell division; Cell fate determination; Cell polarity; Plant development; Stem cells