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Tenorio Berrío R, Dubois M. Single-cell transcriptomics reveal heterogeneity in plant responses to the environment: a focus on biotic and abiotic interactions. J Exp Bot 2024:erae107. [PMID: 38466621 DOI: 10.1093/jxb/erae107] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2023] [Indexed: 03/13/2024]
Abstract
Environmental cues, from biotic or abiotic origin, are major factors influencing plant growth and productivity. Interactions with biotic (e.g. symbionts and pathogens) and abiotic (e.g. changes in temperature, water or nutrient availability) factors trigger signaling and downstream transcriptome changes in plants. While bulk RNA-sequencing technologies have traditionally been used to profile these transcriptional changes, the heterogeneity of the responses, caused by the cellular complexity of organs, might be masked by homogenizing tissues. Thus, whether different cell types respond equally to environmental fluctuations, or whether subsets of the responses are cell-type specific, are long-lasting questions in plant biology. The recent break-through of single-cell transcriptomics in plant research offers an unprecedented view on cellular responses under changing environmental conditions. In this review, we discuss the contributions of single-cell transcriptomics towards the understanding of cell-type specific plant responses to biotic and abiotic environmental interactions. Besides major biological findings, we present some technical challenges coupled to single-cell studies of plant-environment interactions, proposing possible solutions and exciting paths for future research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rubén Tenorio Berrío
- Ghent University, Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Ghent, Belgium
- VIB Center for Plant Systems Biology, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Marieke Dubois
- Ghent University, Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Ghent, Belgium
- VIB Center for Plant Systems Biology, Ghent, Belgium
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Dubois M, Achon I, Brench RA, Polyn S, Tenorio Berrío R, Vercauteren I, Gray JE, Inzé D, De Veylder L. SIAMESE-RELATED1 imposes differentiation of stomatal lineage ground cells into pavement cells. Nat Plants 2023:10.1038/s41477-023-01452-7. [PMID: 37386150 DOI: 10.1038/s41477-023-01452-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/19/2022] [Accepted: 05/30/2023] [Indexed: 07/01/2023]
Abstract
The leaf epidermis represents a multifunctional tissue consisting of trichomes, pavement cells and stomata, the specialized cellular pores of the leaf. Pavement cells and stomata both originate from regulated divisions of stomatal lineage ground cells (SLGCs), but whereas the ontogeny of the stomata is well characterized, the genetic pathways activating pavement cell differentiation remain relatively unexplored. Here, we reveal that the cell cycle inhibitor SIAMESE-RELATED1 (SMR1) is essential for timely differentiation of SLGCs into pavement cells by terminating SLGC self-renewal potency, which depends on CYCLIN A proteins and CYCLIN-DEPENDENT KINASE B1. By controlling SLGC-to-pavement cell differentiation, SMR1 determines the ratio of pavement cells to stomata and adjusts epidermal development to suit environmental conditions. We therefore propose SMR1 as an attractive target for engineering climate-resilient plants.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marieke Dubois
- Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Ghent University, Gent, Belgium
- Center for Plant Systems Biology, VIB, Gent, Belgium
| | - Ignacio Achon
- Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Ghent University, Gent, Belgium
- Center for Plant Systems Biology, VIB, Gent, Belgium
| | - Robert A Brench
- School of Biosciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK
| | - Stefanie Polyn
- Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Ghent University, Gent, Belgium
- Center for Plant Systems Biology, VIB, Gent, Belgium
| | - Rubén Tenorio Berrío
- Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Ghent University, Gent, Belgium
- Center for Plant Systems Biology, VIB, Gent, Belgium
| | - Ilse Vercauteren
- Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Ghent University, Gent, Belgium
- Center for Plant Systems Biology, VIB, Gent, Belgium
| | - Julie E Gray
- School of Biosciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK
| | - Dirk Inzé
- Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Ghent University, Gent, Belgium
- Center for Plant Systems Biology, VIB, Gent, Belgium
| | - Lieven De Veylder
- Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Ghent University, Gent, Belgium.
- Center for Plant Systems Biology, VIB, Gent, Belgium.
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Tenorio Berrío R, Verstaen K, Vandamme N, Pevernagie J, Achon I, Van Duyse J, Van Isterdael G, Saeys Y, De Veylder L, Inzé D, Dubois M. Single-cell transcriptomics sheds light on the identity and metabolism of developing leaf cells. Plant Physiol 2022; 188:898-918. [PMID: 34687312 PMCID: PMC8825278 DOI: 10.1093/plphys/kiab489] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/27/2021] [Accepted: 10/05/2021] [Indexed: 05/08/2023]
Abstract
As the main photosynthetic instruments of vascular plants, leaves are crucial and complex plant organs. A strict organization of leaf mesophyll and epidermal cell layers orchestrates photosynthesis and gas exchange. In addition, water and nutrients for leaf growth are transported through the vascular tissue. To establish the single-cell transcriptomic landscape of these different leaf tissues, we performed high-throughput transcriptome sequencing of individual cells isolated from young leaves of Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) seedlings grown in two different environmental conditions. The detection of approximately 19,000 different transcripts in over 1,800 high-quality leaf cells revealed 14 cell populations composing the young, differentiating leaf. Besides the cell populations comprising the core leaf tissues, we identified subpopulations with a distinct identity or metabolic activity. In addition, we proposed cell-type-specific markers for each of these populations. Finally, an intuitive web tool allows for browsing the presented dataset. Our data present insights on how the different cell populations constituting a developing leaf are connected via developmental, metabolic, or stress-related trajectories.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rubén Tenorio Berrío
- Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
- VIB Center for Plant Systems Biology, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Kevin Verstaen
- Department of Applied Mathematics, Ghent University, Computer Science and Statistics, Ghent, Belgium
- VIB Center for Inflammation Research, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Niels Vandamme
- Department of Applied Mathematics, Ghent University, Computer Science and Statistics, Ghent, Belgium
- VIB Center for Inflammation Research, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Julie Pevernagie
- Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
- VIB Center for Plant Systems Biology, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Ignacio Achon
- Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
- VIB Center for Plant Systems Biology, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Julie Van Duyse
- VIB Center for Inflammation Research, Ghent, Belgium
- Department of Biomedical Molecular Biology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Gert Van Isterdael
- VIB Center for Inflammation Research, Ghent, Belgium
- Department of Biomedical Molecular Biology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Yvan Saeys
- Department of Applied Mathematics, Ghent University, Computer Science and Statistics, Ghent, Belgium
- VIB Center for Inflammation Research, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Lieven De Veylder
- Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
- VIB Center for Plant Systems Biology, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Dirk Inzé
- Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
- VIB Center for Plant Systems Biology, Ghent, Belgium
- Author for communication:
| | - Marieke Dubois
- Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
- VIB Center for Plant Systems Biology, Ghent, Belgium
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Berrío RT, Nelissen H, Inzé D, Dubois M. Increasing yield on dry fields: molecular pathways with growing potential. Plant J 2022; 109:323-341. [PMID: 34695266 PMCID: PMC7612350 DOI: 10.1111/tpj.15550] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/15/2021] [Revised: 10/08/2021] [Accepted: 10/19/2021] [Indexed: 05/02/2023]
Abstract
Drought stress constitutes one of the major constraints to agriculture all over the world, and its devastating effect is only expected to increase in the following years due to climate change. Concurrently, the increasing food demand in a steadily growing population requires a proportional increase in yield and crop production. In the past, research aimed to increase plant resilience to severe drought stress. However, this often resulted in stunted growth and reduced yield under favorable conditions or moderate drought. Nowadays, drought tolerance research aims to maintain plant growth and yield under drought conditions. Overall, recently deployed strategies to engineer drought tolerance in the lab can be classified into a 'growth-centered' strategy, which focuses on keeping growth unaffected by the drought stress, and a 'drought resilience without growth penalty' strategy, in which the main aim is still to boost drought resilience, while limiting the side effects on plant growth. In this review, we put the scope on these two strategies and some molecular players that were successfully engineered to generate drought-tolerant plants: abscisic acid, brassinosteroids, cytokinins, ethylene, ROS scavenging genes, strigolactones, and aquaporins. We discuss how these pathways participate in growth and stress response regulation under drought. Finally, we present an overview of the current insights and future perspectives in the development of new strategies to improve drought tolerance in the field.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rubén Tenorio Berrío
- Ghent University, Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Ghent, Belgium
- VIB Center for Plant Systems Biology, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Hilde Nelissen
- Ghent University, Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Ghent, Belgium
- VIB Center for Plant Systems Biology, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Dirk Inzé
- Ghent University, Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Ghent, Belgium
- VIB Center for Plant Systems Biology, Ghent, Belgium
- Corresponding Author: Dirk Inzé VIB Center for Plant Systems Biology Ghent University, Department of Plant Biotechnology Technologiepark 71 B-9052 Ghent (Belgium) Tel.: +32 9 3313800; Fax: +32 9 3313809;
| | - Marieke Dubois
- Ghent University, Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Ghent, Belgium
- VIB Center for Plant Systems Biology, Ghent, Belgium
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