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Genes that modify the function of SHOOT MERISTEMLESS during meristem development in Arabidopsis

Reference	BBS/E/J/0000A072
Principal Investigator / Supervisor	Professor Robert Sablowski
Co-Investigators / Co-Supervisors
Institution	John Innes Centre
Department	John Innes Centre Department
Funding type	Research
Value (£)	53,537
Status	Completed
Type	Institute Project
Start date	01/10/2001
End date	30/09/2005
Duration	48 months

Abstract

The shoot apical meristem continuously provides new cells to build most of the above-ground parts of plants. In Arabidopsis, two genes have been implicated in the maintenance of the undifferentiated cells in the meristem: SHOOT MERISTEMLESS (STM) and WUSCHEL (WUS) both encode homeodomain-containing proteins STM is required to keep meristem cells undifferentiated throughout the lifetime of the plant and WUS is required to keep the pool of stem cells in the central zone of the meristem, which are the ultimate source of all tissues of the shoot. This project aims to reveal more about the function of STM and WUS, through the following experiments: 1. We will isolate and characterise mutants that enhance the effects of ectopic expression of STM (based on the expectation that the genes may also act in the function STM in the meristem), 2. Although both STM and WUS are required to keep cells undifferentiated it is not clear how their functions interact. Previous results showed that when STM and WUS are expressed together, transient meristem activity and organogenesis were triggered. In addition, these experiments suggested that only specific tissues or cell types are able to respond to combined WUS/STM expression. To investigate more about the interaction between these two genes, transgenic lines with WUS expression in specific cell types are being generated, using gene trap lines and different promoters, 3. Previous experiments using oligonucleotide arrays identified a group of genes that were down-regulated by STM activation. Their roles and their importance in the meristem formation are unknown. We aim to study the function of these genes and test whether they are repressed by STM in order to keep the cells undifferentiated. The strategy is to express these genes artificially in the meristem, bypassing repression by STM.

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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