A genome-wide transcriptome profiling reveals the early molecular events during callus initiation in Arabidopsis multiple organs

Post-embryonic organogenesis and plant regeneration from tissues: two sides of the same coin?

Plants have extraordinary developmental plasticity as they continuously form organs during post-embryonic development. In addition they may regenerate organs upon in vitro hormonal induction. Advances in the field of plant regeneration show that the first steps of de novo organogenesis through in vitro culture in hormone containing media (via formation of a proliferating mass of cells or callus) require root post-embryonic developmental programs as well as regulators of auxin and cytokinin signaling pathways. We review how hormonal regulation is delivered during lateral root initiation and callus formation. Implications in reprograming, cell fate and pluripotency acquisition are discussed. Finally, we analyze the function of cell cycle regulators and connections with epigenetic regulation. Future work dissecting plant organogenesis driven by both endogenous and exogenous cues (upon hormonal induction) may reveal new paradigms of common regulation.

Genetic and epigenetic controls of plant regeneration

Plants have evolved powerful regeneration abilities to recover from damage. Studies on plant regeneration are of high significance as the underlying mechanisms of plant regeneration are not only linking to the fundamental researches in many fields but also to the development of widely used plant biotechnology. Higher plants show three main types of regeneration: tissue regeneration, de novo organogenesis, and somatic embryogenesis. In this review, we summarize recent research on plant regeneration, mainly focusing on Arabidopsis thaliana and moss. New data suggest that plant hormones trigger regeneration and that several key transcription factors respond to hormone signals to determine cell-fate transition. Cell-fate transition requires genome-wide changes in gene expression, which are regulated via epigenetic pathways. Certain epigenetic factors may be recruited by transcription factors to relocate to new loci and regulate gene expression. Cross talk among hormone signaling, transcription factors, and epigenetic factors is involved in different types of plant regeneration, suggesting that elegant and complex regulatory mechanisms control which type of regeneration is triggered in plants under different circumstances. Since regeneration is initiated by wounding, identification of the wound signal is an important objective for future research.