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The genetic analysis of cell fate switch in Arabidopsis

Reference	BBS/E/J/000CA330
Principal Investigator / Supervisor	Dr Silvia Costa
Co-Investigators / Co-Supervisors
Institution	John Innes Centre
Department	John Innes Centre Department
Funding type	Research
Value (£)	97,321
Status	Completed
Type	Institute Project
Start date	01/10/2007
End date	30/09/2012
Duration	60 months

Abstract

Plants are sessile organisms that rapidly adapt their growth and metabolism to environmental changes by maintaining a high degree of cellular and developmental plasticity. The striking regenerative capacity of plants relies on the ability of many plant cell types to retain their totipotency, dedifferentiate and switch fate when external stimuli change. However, development and growth occur in an orderly manner indicating that there are mechanisms maintaining cell fate as well as promoting fate changes. The root epidermis of Arabidopsis is an excellent model to identify such mechanisms because: 1) it is composed of only two cell types, non-hair and hair cells that are specified in response to external stimuli i.e. positional information; 2) alternative chromatin states at the GL2 locus, which controls non-hair cell fate, are associated with the two-epidermal cell types and can be rapidly reorganised when cells switch fate in response to new positional cues. To identify the mechanisms controlling the maintenance and reprogramming of cell fate we will isolate chromatin mutants that are unable to correctly pattern the root epidermis throughout development and/or are unable to change identity when cells become exposed to new positional cues. To characterise the cascade of events leading to fate changes we will set up a genetic screen to identify mutants where epidermal cells are unable to switch fate. The outcomes of this project are expected to provide insights into how plant cells retain their totipotency and may offer new perspective on cellular dedifferentiation in animals.

Summary

unavailable

Committee	Not funded via Committee
Research Topics	Plant Science
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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