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Title: Plant stem-cell organization and differentiation at single-cell resolution
Plants maintain populations of pluripotent stem cells in shoot apical meristems (SAMs), which continuously produce new aboveground organs. We used single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) to achieve an unbiased characterization of the transcriptional landscape of the maize shoot stem-cell niche and its differentiating cellular descendants. Stem cells housed in the SAM tip are engaged in genome integrity maintenance and exhibit a low rate of cell division, consistent with their contributions to germline and somatic cell fates. Surprisingly, we find no evidence for a canonical stem-cell organizing center subtending these cells. In addition, trajectory inference was used to trace the gene expression changes that accompany cell differentiation, revealing that ectopic expression of KNOTTED1 ( KN1 ) accelerates cell differentiation and promotes development of the sheathing maize leaf base. These single-cell transcriptomic analyses of the shoot apex yield insight into the processes of stem-cell function and cell-fate acquisition in the maize seedling and provide a valuable scaffold on which to better dissect the genetic control of plant shoot morphogenesis at the cellular level.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1710973
PAR ID:
10217987
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ;
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Volume:
117
Issue:
52
ISSN:
0027-8424
Page Range / eLocation ID:
33689 to 33699
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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