title: Symplastic communication spatially directs local auxin biosynthesis to maintain root stem cell niche inArabidopsis.
abstract: Stem cells serve as the source of new cells for plant development. A group of stem cells form a stem cell niche (SCN) at the root tip and in the center of the SCN are slowly dividing cells called the quiescent center (QC). QC is thought to function as a signaling hub that inhibits differentiation of surrounding stem cells. Although it has been generally assumed that cell-to-cell communication provides positional information for QC and SCN maintenance, the tools for testing this hypothesis have long been lacking. Here we exploit a system that effectively blocks plasmodesmata (PD)-mediated signaling to explore how cell-to-cell communication functions in the SCN. We showed that the symplastic signaling between the QC and adjacent cells directs the formation of local auxin maxima and establishment of AP2-domain transcription factors, PLETHORA gradients. Interestingly we found symplastic signaling is essential for local auxin biosynthesis, which acts together with auxin polar transport to provide the guidance for local auxin enrichment. Therefore, we demonstrate the crucial role of cell-to-cell communication in the SCN maintenance and further uncover a mechanism by which symplastic signaling initiates and reinforces the positional information during stem cell maintenance via auxin regulation.
authors.affiliation: College of Horticulture, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, Fujian 350002, China.|Horticultural Plant Biology and Metabolomics Center, Haixia Institute of Science and Technology, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, Fujian 350002, China.
authors.forename: Yuting
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: College of Horticulture, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, Fujian 350002, China.|Horticultural Plant Biology and Metabolomics Center, Haixia Institute of Science and Technology, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, Fujian 350002, China.
authors.forename: Meizhi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Horticultural Plant Biology and Metabolomics Center, Haixia Institute of Science and Technology, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, Fujian 350002, China.
authors.forename: Nengsong
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.affiliation: Horticultural Plant Biology and Metabolomics Center, Haixia Institute of Science and Technology, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, Fujian 350002, China.
authors.forename: Yanghang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.affiliation: College of Horticulture, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, Fujian 350002, China.|Horticultural Plant Biology and Metabolomics Center, Haixia Institute of Science and Technology, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, Fujian 350002, China.
authors.forename: Qiaozhi
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: College of Horticulture, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, Fujian 350002, China; wus@fafu.edu.cn.|Horticultural Plant Biology and Metabolomics Center, Haixia Institute of Science and Technology, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, Fujian 350002, China.
authors.forename: Shuang
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-1913-8125
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wu
mesh_terms: D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000166:cytology / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D005936:Glucans / Q000378:metabolism; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D007210:Indoleacetic Acids / Q000378:metabolism*; D059828:Plant Cells / Q000378:metabolism; D018517:Plant Roots / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified; D031425:Plasmodesmata / Q000378:metabolism; D015398:Signal Transduction
chemical_list: D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins; D005936:Glucans; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins; D007210:Indoleacetic Acids; C116421:WUSCHEL protein, Arabidopsis; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins; C048306:callose
keywords: Arabidopsis; PLETHORA; auxin; stem cell niche; symplastic signaling