Award details

Early events in plant cell differentiation

Reference	BBS/E/J/00001329
Principal Investigator / Supervisor	Dr Maureen McCann
Co-Investigators / Co-Supervisors
Institution	John Innes Centre
Department	John Innes Centre Department
Funding type	Research
Value (£)	20,974
Status	Completed
Type	Institute Project
Start date	01/04/1997
End date	31/03/2003
Duration	72 months

Abstract

Cell differentiation in plants is rather more complex than in most animals, in that the developmental plasticity of plants often enables apparently terminal cell types to be persuaded to enter new pathways. In order to describe the molecular and biochemical changes responsible for commitment in plants, a simple single-cell system is an essential requirement: the Zinnia mesophyll cell system is ideal for this purpose. Mesophyll cells from the leaves of Zinnia elegans c. Envy differentiate directly into tracheary elements when cultured in a medium containing a specific ratio of auxin to cytokinin. This model system offers controllable semi-synchronous cell differentiation suitable for studying the molecular basis of cell commitment. The requirement of the system for an optimal cell density implicates extracellular signalling mechanisms to underpin the cooperativity of differentiation. Previous studies have shown a large number of cell-wall polysaccharides and proteins are secreted into the culture medium as the cells become committed to the new cell fate. The aim of this project is to characterize these developmentally-regulated cell-wall proteins and polysaccharides, including their interactions, and to investigate their functional role in cell-wall architecture and in the process of commitment to tracheary element fate.

Summary

unavailable

Committee	Closed Committee - Plant & Microbial Sciences (PMS)
Research Topics	X – not assigned to a current Research Topic
Research Priority	X – Research Priority information not available
Research Initiative	X - not in an Initiative
Funding Scheme	X – not Funded via a specific Funding Scheme

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