Plant regeneration from differentiated cells

August 4, 2022

Mechanism of reprograming differentiated cells is elucidated

An international collaborative research group, including the RIKEN CSRS, Chubu University, and the National Institute for Basic Biology, elucidated the mechanism underlying plant regeneration through reprogramming of cells that have once completed differentiation.

The research group revealed that the new production of auxin, a plant hormone, is crucial for differentiated cells to be reprogrammed and reinitiate cell division. They also found that the expression level of the gene encoding an enzyme for auxin biosynthesis increases through epigenetic mechanisms. In addition, they elucidated that the biosynthesis of auxin enhances the cellular response to auxin, inducing the expression of genes necessary to resume cell division.

The findings of this study will help increasing the production of plant resources using tissue culture techniques and improving the efficiency of selective breeding with genome editing, contributing to sustainable food supply and biomass production.

Original article

The Plant Cell doi:10.1093/plcell/koac218

Y. Sakamoto, A. Kawamura, T. Suzuki, S. Segami, M. Maeshima, S. Polyn, L. D. Veylder, K. Sugimoto,

"Transcriptional activation of auxin biosynthesis drives developmental reprogramming of differentiated cells".

Contact

Keiko Sugimoto
Team Leader
Cell Function Research Team