Structural, physiological and biochemical aspects of embryo development in vivo and in vitro

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Apical meristems are located at each growing point and are specialized for the production of new cells for the plant body. The importance of meristems in plant growth and development can be summarized by a simple statement from Professor Ian Sussex's review "The meristems make the plant" (Cell 56: 225, 1989). In the past funding period, we demonstrated that shoot meristem initiation is sensitive to auxin perturbation. Furthermore, during in vitro embryogenesis, although a shoot meristem is formed, it is not stably determined as its organization deteriorates upon prolong culture. The root meristem, on the other hand, requires auxin for development. These observations suggest that expression of the meristem genes and hence the cell fate could be altered by auxin levels and factors from the embryonic environment. We also established that the redox state of both the cell and its surrounding environment can modulate in vitro embryo development. The redox environment can influence the quality of the embryos produced, especially the shoot apical meristem.