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CLE peptides: critical regulators for stem cell maintenance in plants

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Abstract

Main conclusion

Plant CLE peptides, which regulate stem cell maintenance in shoot and root meristems and in vascular bundles through LRR family receptor kinases, are novel, complex, and to some extent conserved.

Abstract

Over the past two decades, peptide ligands of the CLAVATA3 (CLV3) /Embryo Surrounding Region (CLE) family have been recognized as critical short- and long-distance communication signals in plants, especially for stem cell homeostasis, cell fate determination and physiological responses. Stem cells located at the shoot apical meristem (SAM), the root apical meristem (RAM) and the procambium divide and differentiate into specialized cells that form a variety of tissues such as epidermis, ground tissues, xylem and phloem. In the SAM of Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana), the CLV3 peptide restricts the number of stem cells via leucine-rich repeat (LRR)-type receptor kinases. In the RAM, root-active CLE peptides are critical negative regulators, while ROOT GROWTH FACTOR (RGF) peptides are positive regulators in stem cell maintenance. Among those root-active CLE peptides, CLE25 promotes, while CLE45 inhibits phloem differentiation. In vascular bundles, TRACHEARY ELEMENT DIFFERENTIATION INHIBITORY FACTOR (TDIF)/CLE41/CLE44 promotes procambium cell division, and prevents xylem differentiation. Orthologs of CLV3 have been identified in liverwort (Marchantia polymorpha), tomato (Solanum lycopersicum), rice (Oryza sativa), maize (Zea mays) and lotus (Lotus japonicas), suggesting that CLV3 is an evolutionarily conserved signal in stem cell maintenance. However, functional characterization of endogenous CLE peptides and corresponding receptor kinases, and the downstream signal transduction has been challenging due to their genome-wide redundancies and rapid evolution.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Dr. Shi-Chao Ren, the previous member of our laboratory, for providing the picture of the transverse section of the Arabidopsis stem in Fig. 3. We are grateful to our colleagues for their contributions to our understanding of CLE and other small peptides, in regulating stem cell maintenance in plants, as cited in this review. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31871455, 31370029) and the Youth Innovation Promotion Association of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Plant Molecular Physiology, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100093, China

    Xiu-Fen Song & Chun-Ming Liu

  2. State Key Laboratory of Plant Genomics and National Center for Plant Gene Research, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China

    Xiu-Li Hou

  3. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Xiu-Fen Song & Chun-Ming Liu

  4. School of Advanced Agricultural Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China

    Chun-Ming Liu

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  1. Xiu-Fen Song
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Correspondence to Chun-Ming Liu.

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Communicated by Gerhard Leubner.

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Song, XF., Hou, XL. & Liu, CM. CLE peptides: critical regulators for stem cell maintenance in plants. Planta 255, 5 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-021-03791-1

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