Intracellular dynamics and transcriptional regulations in plant zygotes: a case study of Arabidopsis

Kimata, Yusuke; Ueda, Minako

doi:10.1007/s00497-020-00389-7

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Published: 22 April 2020

Intracellular dynamics and transcriptional regulations in plant zygotes: a case study of Arabidopsis

Plant Reproduction volume 33, pages 89–96 (2020)Cite this article

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Abstract

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Recent understandings ofArabidopsiszygote.

Abstract

Body axis formation is essential for the proper development of multicellular organisms. The apical-basal axis in Arabidopsis thaliana is determined by the asymmetric division of the zygote, following its cellular polarization. However, the regulatory mechanism of zygote polarization is unclear due to technical issues. The zygote is located deep in the seed (ovule) in flowers, which prevents the living dynamics of zygotes from being observed. In addition, elucidation of molecular pathways by conventional forward genetic screens was not enough because of high gene redundancy in early development. Here, we present a review introducing two new methods, which have been developed to overcome these problems. Method 1: the two-photon live-cell imaging method provides a new system to visualize the dynamics of intracellular structures in Arabidopsis zygotes, such as cytoskeletons and vacuoles. Microtubules form transverse rings and control zygote elongation, while vacuoles dynamically change their shapes along longitudinal actin filaments and support polar nuclear migration. Method 2: the transcriptome method uses isolated Arabidopsis zygotes and egg cells to reveal the gene expression profiles before and after fertilization. This approach revealed that de novo transcription occurs extensively and immediately after fertilization. Moreover, inhibition of the de novo transcription was shown to sufficiently block the zygotic division, thus indicating a strong possibility that yet unidentified zygote regulators can be found using this transcriptome approach. These new strategies in Arabidopsis will help to further our understanding of the fundamental principles regarding the proper formation of plant bodies from unicellular zygotes.

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Acknowledgements

We received funding supports from Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science: Grant-in-Aid for JSPS Research Fellow (19J30006 for Y.K.), Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas (19H05676 and 19H05670 for M.U.), Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B, 19H03243 for M.U.), and Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research (19K22421 for M.U.). We would like to thank Editage (www.editage.com) for English language editing.

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Institute of Transformative Bio-Molecules (ITbM), Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, Aichi, 464-8601, Japan
Yusuke Kimata & Minako Ueda
Division of Biological Science, Graduate School of Science, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, Aichi, 464-8602, Japan
Minako Ueda

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Correspondence to Minako Ueda.

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Kimata, Y., Ueda, M. Intracellular dynamics and transcriptional regulations in plant zygotes: a case study of Arabidopsis. Plant Reprod 33, 89–96 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00497-020-00389-7

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Received: 25 February 2020
Accepted: 09 April 2020
Published: 22 April 2020
Issue Date: June 2020
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00497-020-00389-7

Keywords

Arabidopsis thaliana
Axis formation
Zygote
Live-cell imaging
Transcriptome

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