Regulation of Axis Determinacy by the Arabidopsis PINHEAD Gene

Plants produce proximal-distal growth axes with two types of growth potential: they can be indeterminate, in which case growth continues indefinitely, or they can be determinate, in which case growth is limited to the production of a single organ or a discrete set of organs. The indeterminate shoot...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Plant cell 2002-12, Vol.14 (12), p.3029-3042
Main Authors: Newman, Karyn Lynn, Fernandez, Anita G., Barton, M. Kathryn
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Arabidopsis - genetics
Arabidopsis - growth & development
Arabidopsis - ultrastructure
Arabidopsis Proteins - genetics
Arabidopsis Proteins - metabolism
Cotyledon - genetics
Cotyledon - growth & development
Cotyledon - ultrastructure
Cotyledons
Embryos
Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental
Gene Expression Regulation, Plant
Leaves
Meristem - genetics
Meristem - growth & development
Meristems
Microscopy, Electron, Scanning
Mutation
Phenotype
Phenotypes
Plant cells
Plants
Plants, Genetically Modified
Seedlings
Seeds - genetics
Seeds - growth & development
Stem cells
Transgenes
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Summary:Plants produce proximal-distal growth axes with two types of growth potential: they can be indeterminate, in which case growth continues indefinitely, or they can be determinate, in which case growth is limited to the production of a single organ or a discrete set of organs. The indeterminate shoot axes of Arabidopsis pinhead/zwille mutants frequently are transformed to a determinate state. PINHEAD (PNH) is expressed in the central domain of the developing plant: the provascular tissue, the shoot apical meristem, and the adaxial (upper) sides of lateral organ primordia. Here, we show that ectopic expression of PNH on the abaxial (lower) sides of lateral organs results in upward curling of leaf blades. This phenotype correlates with a loss of cell number coordination between the two surfaces of the blade, indicating that ectopic PNH can cause changes in cell division rates. More strikingly, moving PNH expression from the central to the peripheral domain of the embryo causes transformation of the determinate cotyledon axis to an indeterminate state. We propose that growth axes are specified as determinate versus indeterminate in a PNH-mediated step. Our results add to a growing body of evidence that radial positional information is important in meristem formation. These results also indicate that genes regulating cell division and axis determinacy are likely to be among PNH targets.
ISSN:1040-4651
1532-298X
DOI:10.1105/tpc.005132