Lecture 10 - Plant stem cells and meristems Flashcards

You may prefer our related Brainscape-certified flashcards:
1
Q

What is the shoot apical meristem and what is its structure?

A
  • the source of all above ground organs
  • key to the continued growth and function of the meristem
  • small population of densely packed stem cells at the tip of the meristem
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

What do the small population of densely packed stem cells at the tip of the meristem differentiate into?

A

Vascular tissues

Below L3

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

What are the functions of the shoot apical meristem?

A
  1. Make lateral organs on the flanks

2. Maintain the meristem (through asymmetric cell division)

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

How do the stem cells of the shoot apical meristem divide?

A

Stem cell divides into a daughter cell that will differentiate into a new type and another that will replace the parent and maintain the stem cell population ,provding a new source of cells for differentiation

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

How can we find out how meristematic stem cells work?

A

Reveal key genes by mutagenesis screens

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

What have mutagenesis screens revealed about the phenotype of a wuschel mutant and what was the experiment?

A

Wild type
-produces leaves in bullk then eventually stops producing leaves and produces long shoot before producing leaves again
Wuschel mutant
-‘stop start’ phenotype/development
-‘stop’ = missing a dome with initiation of leaves
-‘start’ = lots of domes
-instead of one cell remaining as a stem cell both cells divide meaning that the sc population is not maintained
-continually produces whirls of leaves then a short shoot region then whirls of leaves
-eventually will flower

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

What is the molecular mechanism of wuschel?

A
  • encodes a transcription factor
  • expressed in the heart of the SAM in a small number (in situ hybridisation)
  • lack of WUS fails to result in maintainin the SAM
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

What is the function of the CLAVATA genes?

A

-important meristematic function in development and regulation

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

What is the CLAVATA mutant phenotyp?

A
  • opposite to wuschel
  • ‘runaway expanding meristem ‘
  • enlarged meristem ‘strap like’
  • stem cell population is enlarged
  • tends to expand laterally
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

How many CLAVATA genes are there and what are their features?

A

3 CLAVATA genes

  • same mutant phenotype
  • CLV1 and CLV2 encode receptor kinases
  • CLV3 encodes a secreted pre-protein cleaved to give an extracellular peptide
  • overlapping domains of expression
  • CLV genes expressed in a slightly broader region of meristem than WUS
  • lact of the CLV genes results in a runaway expanding meristem
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

What type of pathways of regulating the meristem size do CLAVATA and WUS mutants show?

A
CLAVATA 
-restrictive pathway reduced
-promotive pathway increased
-bigger flowers
-more cells
WUS
-promotive pathway reduced
-restrictive pathway increased
-reduction in the number of stemcells

Balance between restrictive and promotive pathway regulated meristem size

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

How do WUS and CLV interact?

A

SAM maintainence feedback loop
-WUS gene essential for stem cell identity
-domain of WUS kept in check by the CLV signalling pathway
-WUS feeds back to up-regulate CLV3 expression
CLV3 (signalling peptide) binds to CLV1 (receptor) which represses the activity of WUS (transcription factor) which normally promotes the expression of CLV3

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

What is epistasis?

A

When the effect of one gene depends on the presence of one or more modifier genes
-identify when do a double gene knockout, and the phenotype you see is of one of the genes, that means that that gene is epistatic to the other
LEARN THAT ^ IT IS V. IMPORTANT

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

How is the wus mutation epistatic to the clv mutation?

A
  • in the double mutant the wus phenotype is all you can see
  • suggest wus is at the end of the pathway
  • fits in with the SAM maintenence feedback loop
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

What happens to the domain of expression of WUS in a clv mutant phenotype?

A
  • normally expression in a small number of cell in the SAM
  • in clv mutant, WUS expession expands massively beneath the surface (lose the repressive part of the pathway, no CLV3 to repression wus expression), meristam is much larger
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

What happens to the domain of expression of CLV3 in a wus mutant?

A
  • strong expression in the SAM of the WT
  • reduction of CLV3 expression in the same domain in a wus mutant
  • wus mutant leads to a reduction in CLV3 expression (promotive part of the pathway)
17
Q

What does overexpression of CLV3 result in?

A
  • a phenotype like loss of wus

- ‘stop start’ phenotype

18
Q

What experiment was done to overexpress CLV3?

A
  • take promoter and join to the coding region of the CLV3 gene in bacteria, extra copy of the CLV3 gene
  • insert construct into vector and transform into plants to overexpress CLV3
  • use the 35s promotor
  • from the polyflower mesoic virus
  • expressed strongly in most plant cells
19
Q

Why over express CLV3 not CLV1?

A

if over express the ligand will only make a difference in cells that are expressing the receptor, where CLV3 will endogenously act

20
Q

Where do arabidpsis flowers develop from?

A

Auxillary shoot meristems (floral meristems)

  • initate floral organs (modified leaves - initaite in the same way and meristem functions in the same way)
  • CLAVATA switched off in flowers
  • grow in a determinate way (unlike SAM and leaves - must terminate the wus/clv pathway)
21
Q

What are the floral organs and what is their pattern of development?

A
Sepal 
Petal 
Stamen 
Carpel
(from the outside in)
22
Q

What are the effects of the WUS and CLV mutations in flowers?

A
  • similar to effects on the SAM
  • clv mutant = more stamen
  • wus mutant =meristem terminates early, not all of the organs are produced
23
Q

How is the meristem function significantly different to that of the SAM?

A
  • the floral meristem gets ‘used up’
  • when making the carpels
  • must mean wus switched off
  • grows in a determinate way
24
Q

What is the phenotype of the agamous mutant?

A

-can’t make carpels
-mutant floral meristems do not terminate
-no stamen, carpels, lots of petals
-should have three petal whirls (petals, stamen, carpel) but carrys on producing petals indefinately
Shows that wus is epistatic to ag

25
Q

What is agamous?

A
  • transcription factor needed for carpel specification
  • shuts off WUS in the floral meristem
  • c function gene
  • determines reproductive organs in the flower
26
Q

How does agamous fit into the pathway of regulation of meristems?

A

CLV3 binds to CLV1
CLV1 and 3 supress Wus
Wus promotes the expression of AG
AG supresses the expression of Wus

AG negatively regulates Wus to result in determinate growth in the floral meristem

27
Q

What is the evidence that wus is epistatic to ag?

A

agamous/wus double mutant -> wus is the only phenotype seen

28
Q

What do clavata and wuschel mutants reveal about the regulation of gene expression in the SAM and FAM?

A

reveal genes that encode different compartments of a signal transduction pathway that regulates gene expression and balances cell proliferation with the maintenance of a population of stem cell

29
Q

How do CLV1, 2, and 3 form a signalling complex?

A

CLV1 and 2 form a receptor (cannot signal alone, CLV1 has kinase signalling ability)
CLV3 is the ligand that binds to the CLV1,/3 receptor complex to result in the supression of wus gene expression

30
Q

What does CLV expression result in?

A

inhibition of meristem size

31
Q

What does wus expression result in?

A

promotion of meristem size

32
Q

What receptors are related to CLV1/2 and function in broadly the same way?

A

CLE ligand and LRR receptor like kinase signalling in the SAM
CLV3 signalling to CLV1/2 and CRN supress the stem cell pool
CLE ligand signalling to BAM1/BAM2 promotes the stem cell pool

33
Q

What signalling is important in root meristems?

A

CLE dependent signalling

-root meristem regulated in a similar way to the shoot meristem

34
Q

What is a special features of fern meristems?

A

-have single apical cell

35
Q

In flowering plants, what pathway regulated the meristem?

A

wus/clv pathway