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Mar 22, 2018

Unique communication strategy discovered in stem cell pathway controlling plant growth

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, food, genetics

A team of plant geneticists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) has identified a protein receptor on stem cells involved in plant development that can issue different instructions about how to grow depending on what peptide (protein fragment) activates it.

This is the first such multi-functional receptor found to work in this way to control . The new findings obtained by CSHL Professor David Jackson and colleagues may have important implications for efforts to boost yields of essential food crops such as corn and rice.

Plant growth and development depend on structures called meristems — reservoirs in plants that contain . When prompted by peptide signals, stem in the meristem develop into any of the plant’s organs — roots, leaves, or flowers, for example. These signals generally work like a key (the peptide) fitting into a lock on the surface of a cell (the ). The lock opens momentarily, triggering the release of a inside the cell. The messenger carries instructions for the cell to do something, such as grow into a root or flower cell or even stop growing altogether. Conventionally, one or more peptides fit into a receptor to release a single type of chemical messenger.

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