RESEARCH

Research Units

Plant Stem Cells and Regeneration

Plants have remarkable ability of regeneration, enabling single differentiated cells to be reprogrammed their fates and developed into a whole plant. This process involves de novo formation of stem cell tissue called the meristem and relies on the actions of two plant hormones, cytokinin and auxin. Although it has been shown that coordinated gene cascades underlie plant regeneration, insights into how gene expression is orchestrated as a whole and how individual cells coordinate their developmental programs remain obscure. In this research unit, we explore regulatory mechanisms of gene cascade dictated by a set of transcription factors involved in tissue regeneration and their roles in de novo shoot meristem formation by analyzing their effects on key meristem regulators. Moreover, we investigate the effects of these regulators in different developmental contexts such as embryogenesis, axillary shoot formation and flower development to obtain an overview of how a gene regulatory network is utilized and modified during plant life cycle.

Plant Stem Cells and Regeneration

Unit members

  • Japan
    Unit coordinator
    Mitsuhiro AIDA Website
    Professor, Faculty of Advanced Science and Technology (FAST), Kumamoto University
    Japan
  • Czech Republic
    Yoshihisa IKEDA
    Junior Researcher, Centre of the Region Haná for Biotechnological and Agricultural Research, Czech Advanced Technology and Research Institute (CATRIN), Palacký University Olomouc
    Czech Republic
  • México
    Stefan DE FOLTER Website
    Professor, Principal Investigator, Unidad de Genómica Avanzada (LANGEBIO), Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del Instituto Politécnico Nacional (CINVESTAV-IPN), Guanajuato
    México
  • Mexico
    Jose Irepan REYES-OLALDE
    Associate Investigator, Universidad Estatal del Valle de Toluca, Ocoyoacac Edo. Mex
    Mexico

Achievements

Publications

Ikeda Y, Králová M, Zalabák D, Kubalová I, Aida M (2021) "Post-embryonic lateral organ development and adaxial–abaxial polarity are regulated by the combined effect of ENHANCER OF SHOOT REGENERATION 1 and WUSCHEL in Arabidopsis shoots," Int. J. Mol Sci 22, 10621. doi: 10.3390/ijms221910621 https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms221910621

Ikeda Y, Zalabák D, Kubalová I, Králová M, Brenner WG, Aida M (2021) " Interpreting cytokinin action as anterograde signaling and beyond," Front Plant Sci 12, 641257. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2021.641257 https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2021.641257

Grants

Mitsuhiro Aida, Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas (The Japan Society for the Promotion of Science) (applied)

Mitsuhiro Aida, Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas (The Japan Society for the Promotion of Science), Principles of pluripotent stem cells underlying plant vitality, "Establishment of plant hormone microenvironment during shoot stem cell formation," April 2020-March 2022.

Activities

(Oral presentation)

Reyes-Olalde, Jose Irepan, De Folter Stefan and Mitsuhiro Aida “A CUP-SHAPED COTYLEDON-cytokinin regulatory module in the carpel margin meristem”. The 63rd annual meeting of the Japanese Society of Plant Physiologists, March 22, 2022

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